by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Dallas College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at El Centro College, 7% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $4,549 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $4,465, equal to roughly 81.2% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Across the full undergraduate body at El Centro College (freshmen included), 9% finance part of their studies with federal loans, borrowing on average $5,608 each per year. It comes to 25.6% above the freshman federal average of $4,465.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,216 in two years and roughly $22,432 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 9% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,608 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,692 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $20,704,047 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at El Centro College carry a median federal debt of $5,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for El Centro College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,159 |
| 25th percentile | $3,781 |
| 75th percentile | $11,450 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,981 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at El Centro College.
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 El Centro College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2470 | $9,240 |
| Completed (graduates) | 647 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 1823 | $9,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $118.91/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at El Centro College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2404 | $9,289 |
| No Stafford loan | 66 | $7,333 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 727 | $8,929 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1743 | $9,373 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at El Centro College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for El Centro College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 365 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,822 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,563 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,423 |
| Independent students | $8,753 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for El Centro College.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Important to Remember
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.