by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Fortis Institute-Birmingham, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Fortis Institute - Birmingham, 84% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $8,384 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $8,384. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at Fortis Institute - Birmingham, 70% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $7,493 a year. That is 10.6% under the $8,384 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,986 in two years and roughly $29,972 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,493 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 241 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,805,917 |
The median student at Fortis Institute - Birmingham borrows $9,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,346 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,959 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,167 |
| 25th percentile | $6,334 |
| 75th percentile | $13,992 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $23,501 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
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 Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 274 | $6,625 |
| Completed (graduates) | 145 | $7,030 |
| Did not complete | 129 | $5,666 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $83.59/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 Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 245 | $6,700 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 29 | $5,166 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Fortis Institute - Birmingham is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2637 |
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 | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $10,727 |
| High income | $9,832 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,667 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Fortis Institute - Birmingham.
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.
Did You Know?
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.