by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at MMC Chattanooga, 80% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $8,220 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $8,220. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at MMC Chattanooga, 80% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $9,952 a year. This is 21.1% above the freshman federal average of $8,220.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $19,904 over two years and about $39,808 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 80% |
| Average federal loan per year | $9,952 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,559 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $45,369,417 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at MMC Chattanooga carry a median federal debt of $10,661 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $10,661 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,917 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,334 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at MMC Chattanooga.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,530 |
| 25th percentile | $6,333 |
| 75th percentile | $13,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at MMC Chattanooga.
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 MMC Chattanooga.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1418 | $5,198 |
| Completed (graduates) | 847 | $6,007 |
| Did not complete | 571 | $4,120 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $71.43/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at MMC Chattanooga.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1404 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1271 | $5,093 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 147 | $6,500 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. MMC Chattanooga.
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 MMC Chattanooga follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1420 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $10,657 |
| Middle income | $11,457 |
| High income | $9,111 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,587 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,139 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,500 |
| Independent students | $11,943 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for MMC Chattanooga.
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.
Important to Remember
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.