by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Illinois Institute of Technology: 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 Illinois Tech, 36% of first-year students take on loan debt, averaging $6,892 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,085, or about 92.5% 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.
For undergraduates overall at Illinois Tech, 33% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,636 per year. That amounts to 30.5% larger than the $5,085 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,272 over two years and about $26,544 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 33% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,636 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 952 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,317,267 |
The median student at Illinois Tech borrows $20,687 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $20,687 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,095 |
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 Illinois Tech.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,215 |
| 75th percentile | $31,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Illinois Tech.
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 Illinois Tech.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 500 | $30,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 285 | $36,438 |
| Did not complete | 215 | $24,265 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $433.29/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 Illinois Tech.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 455 | $32,058 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 45 | $20,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Illinois Tech.
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 Illinois Tech appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1066 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $22,500 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $20,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,687 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $30,250 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Illinois Tech.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Did You Know?
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.