by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at CRAS, 64% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $7,119 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,481, equal to roughly 99.7% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at CRAS, freshmen included, 66% take out federal student loans, borrowing on average $5,656 per year. That is 3.2% higher than the $5,481 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,312 over two years and about $22,624 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 66% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,656 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 630 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,563,578 |
The median student at CRAS borrows $8,344 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,344 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,344 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for CRAS.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $8,208 |
| 75th percentile | $13,875 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $14,094 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at CRAS.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at CRAS.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 251 | $13,883 |
| Completed (graduates) | 181 | $16,923 |
| Did not complete | 70 | $7,495 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $201.23/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at CRAS.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 236 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 15 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 227 | $14,095 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 24 | $3,945 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at CRAS.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for CRAS appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 523 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,344 |
| Middle income | $8,344 |
| High income | $8,344 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,344 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,344 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,344 |
| Independent students | $14,094 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at CRAS.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Worth Knowing
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.