by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Dalton State College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At DSC, 13% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, averaging $4,142 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,042, amounting to 73.5% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at DSC, freshmen included, 15% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $5,327 annually. This is 31.8% larger than the $4,042 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $10,654 across two years and $21,308 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 15% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,327 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 679 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,617,275 |
The median student at DSC borrows $7,361 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,361 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,937 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,139 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 DSC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,276 |
| 75th percentile | $17,640 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,696 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at DSC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at DSC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 177 | $8,703 |
| Completed (graduates) | 44 | $8,848 |
| Did not complete | 133 | $8,574 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $105.21/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 DSC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 167 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 109 | $8,358 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 68 | $9,889 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. DSC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for DSC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 843 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,293 |
| Middle income | $6,501 |
| High income | $7,101 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,869 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,461 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,281 |
| Independent students | $11,339 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at DSC.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.