by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Pacific Union 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 PUC specifically, 65% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $7,500 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,484, equal to roughly 99.7% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at PUC (freshmen included), 63% take out federal student loans, averaging $7,761 a year. That is 41.5% more than the freshman federal average of $5,484.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,522 by year two and around $31,044 by the fourth year. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 63% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,761 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 525 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,074,515 |
The median student at PUC borrows $19,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for PUC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,001 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $32,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $45,167 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at PUC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for PUC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 154 | $21,293 |
| Completed (graduates) | 66 | $23,122 |
| Did not complete | 88 | $19,730 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $274.95/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 PUC.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 143 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 11 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at PUC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for PUC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 435 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $21,482 |
| Middle income | $19,750 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,834 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $20,001 |
| Independent students | $17,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at PUC.
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.
Important to Remember
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.