by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Ozarks Technical Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At OTC specifically, 15% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $4,290 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,187, or about 76.1% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at OTC, 24% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $4,704 annually. This works out to 12.3% more than the first-year federal average of $4,187.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $9,408 in two years and roughly $18,816 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 24% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,704 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,028 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,540,385 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at OTC carry a median federal debt of $6,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,453 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,279 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for OTC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,937 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $14,652 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at OTC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for OTC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 748 | $11,266 |
| Completed (graduates) | 148 | $8,696 |
| Did not complete | 600 | $12,000 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $103.4/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 OTC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 734 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 246 | $8,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 502 | $13,090 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at OTC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for OTC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2572 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,000 |
| Middle income | $6,211 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,631 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,250 |
| Independent students | $8,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for OTC.
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.