by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Laguna College of Art and Design: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at LCAD, 44% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $9,468 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,062, equal to roughly 92.0% 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.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at LCAD, 43% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $4,688 annually. That amounts to 7.4% less than the $5,062 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $9,376 by year two and around $18,752 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 43% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,688 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 337 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,579,834 |
The middle borrower at LCAD owes $18,875 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,875 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at LCAD.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $29,375 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,724 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at LCAD.
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 LCAD.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 142 | $44,788 |
| Completed (graduates) | 77 | $65,400 |
| Did not complete | 65 | $33,303 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $777.68/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at LCAD.
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 LCAD appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 96 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $15,250 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,045 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,375 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,500 |
| Independent students | $28,430 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at LCAD.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.