by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Minnesota State Community and Technical College: 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.
At M State specifically, 43% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $5,669 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,935, representing 89.7% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at M State, 43% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $5,958 in federal loans per year. That amounts to 20.7% higher than the first-year federal average of $4,935.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,916 across two years and $23,832 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 43% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,958 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,250 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,447,452 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at M State carry a median federal debt of $9,360 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,360 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,000 |
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 M State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,700 |
| 25th percentile | $4,644 |
| 75th percentile | $15,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,200 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at M State.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for M State.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 180 | $6,817 |
| Completed (graduates) | 56 | $5,219 |
| Did not complete | 124 | $8,212 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $62.06/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 M State.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 126 | $5,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 54 | $14,265 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at M State.
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 M State is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2959 |
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 | $9,689 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $6,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,136 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $11,134 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at M State.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.