by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Penn Commercial Business/Technical School— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Penn Commercial, 52% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $7,021 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $7,021. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at Penn Commercial (freshmen included), 46% take out federal student loans, for a typical $7,971 each per year. This is 13.5% above the first-year federal average of $7,021.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $15,942 over two years and about $31,884 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 46% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,971 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 103 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $821,062 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Penn Commercial carry a median federal debt of $8,904 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,904 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,638 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
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 Penn Commercial.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,167 |
| 25th percentile | $5,499 |
| 75th percentile | $13,192 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,334 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Penn Commercial.
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 Penn Commercial.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 77 | $8,359 |
| Completed (graduates) | 51 | $9,635 |
| Did not complete | 26 | $5,396 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $114.57/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Penn Commercial.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Penn Commercial follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 292 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,958 |
| Middle income | $9,450 |
| High income | $7,638 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,025 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,638 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,638 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Penn Commercial.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.