by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for North Carolina A & T State University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at NC A&T, 61% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $7,117 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,673. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. 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 NC A&T, freshmen included, 56% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,581 per year. This works out to 16.0% greater than the $5,673 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,162 across two years and $26,324 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 56% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,581 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 6,689 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $44,017,185 |
The median student at NC A&T borrows $20,909 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $20,909 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
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 NC A&T.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,800 |
| 25th percentile | $8,800 |
| 75th percentile | $31,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,723 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at NC A&T.
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 NC A&T.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2369 | $15,151 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1379 | $20,004 |
| Did not complete | 990 | $12,874 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $237.87/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at NC A&T.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2340 | $15,141 |
| No Stafford loan | 29 | $18,052 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2199 | $15,811 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 170 | $12,575 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at NC A&T.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for NC A&T follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2755 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $21,500 |
| Middle income | $20,750 |
| High income | $20,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,930 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,859 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,243 |
| Independent students | $18,375 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for NC A&T.
Subsidized and 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?
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.