by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Fashion Institute of Technology: 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.
Looking at the entering class at FIT SUNY, 38% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $9,606 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federal loan is $5,246, or about 95.4% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at FIT SUNY, freshmen included, 31% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $6,567 per year. That amounts to 25.2% higher than the $5,246 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,134 in two years and roughly $26,268 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 31% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,567 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,333 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $15,320,336 |
The middle borrower at FIT SUNY owes $12,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
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 FIT SUNY.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $7,517 |
| 75th percentile | $25,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at FIT SUNY.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for FIT SUNY.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1072 | $27,992 |
| Completed (graduates) | 845 | $29,751 |
| Did not complete | 227 | $21,428 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $353.77/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 FIT SUNY.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1043 | $27,998 |
| No Stafford loan | 29 | $27,918 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 879 | $28,450 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 193 | $27,090 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. FIT SUNY.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for FIT SUNY is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1547 |
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 | $12,116 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,000 |
| Independent students | $15,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at FIT SUNY.
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
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.