by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Lancaster County Career and Technology Center: 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 Lancaster County Career and Technology Center, 89% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $6,576 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,974, representing 90.4% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center, freshmen included, 74% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,244 annually. This is 25.5% greater than the $4,974 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,488 by year two and around $24,976 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 | 74% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,244 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 280 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,748,439 |
The middle borrower at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center owes $11,858 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,858 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Lancaster County Career and Technology Center.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,075 |
| 75th percentile | $15,590 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,590 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 35 | $7,113 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Lancaster County Career and Technology Center.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Lancaster County Career and Technology Center follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 368 |
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 | $12,638 |
| Middle income | $11,078 |
| High income | $9,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,701 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,465 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,465 |
| Independent students | $15,703 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.