by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Cornish College of the Arts, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Cornish College of the Arts specifically, 67% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $10,397 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,362, equal to roughly 97.5% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
For undergraduates overall at Cornish College of the Arts, 62% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,582 a year. This works out to 22.8% larger than the $5,362 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,164 by year two and around $26,328 by the fourth year. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 62% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,582 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 296 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,948,416 |
The median student at Cornish College of the Arts borrows $20,610 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $20,610 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Cornish College of the Arts.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Cornish College of the Arts.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at Cornish College of the Arts.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 169 | $41,556 |
| Completed (graduates) | 93 | $66,828 |
| Did not complete | 76 | $33,665 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $794.66/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Cornish College of the Arts.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Cornish College of the Arts appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 252 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $24,000 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,438 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $24,136 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Cornish College of the Arts.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.