by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Greenville Technical 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.
Looking at the entering class at GTC, 6% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $5,202 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,205, representing 94.6% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 GTC, freshmen included, 12% rely on federal student loans toward their education, borrowing on average $6,400 a year. It comes to 23.0% greater than the $5,205 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,800 across two years and $25,600 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 | 12% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,400 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 963 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,163,591 |
The middle borrower at GTC owes $8,604 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,604 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,392 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,683 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at GTC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,625 |
| 25th percentile | $4,456 |
| 75th percentile | $18,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,479 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at GTC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for GTC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 882 | $11,527 |
| Completed (graduates) | 150 | $10,051 |
| Did not complete | 732 | $12,000 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $119.52/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at GTC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 838 | $11,857 |
| No Stafford loan | 44 | $7,822 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 310 | $7,845 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 572 | $13,776 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. GTC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for GTC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 4544 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,324 |
| Middle income | $8,669 |
| High income | $6,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,718 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,399 |
| Independent students | $11,184 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for GTC.
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
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.