by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Lake Area Technical College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At LATI, 81% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $6,033 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,104, representing 92.8% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Looking at all undergraduates at LATI, freshmen included, 73% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $5,867 each per year. This works out to 14.9% more than the first-year federal average of $5,104.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,734 in two years and roughly $23,468 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 73% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,867 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,249 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,327,886 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at LATI carry a median federal debt of $9,888 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,888 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 LATI.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,166 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $14,167 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at LATI.
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 LATI.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 186 | $11,988 |
| Completed (graduates) | 97 | $11,976 |
| Did not complete | 89 | $12,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $142.41/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 LATI.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 149 | $12,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 37 | $10,991 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at LATI.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for LATI appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 604 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $10,000 |
| High income | $10,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,854 |
| Independent students | $11,556 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for LATI.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.