by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Pennsylvania College of Art and Design— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, 83% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $10,792 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,696. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit for a 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design (freshmen included), 72% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,822 annually. This is 19.8% greater than the $5,696 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,644 in two years and roughly $27,288 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 | 72% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,822 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 224 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,528,083 |
The middle borrower at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design owes $23,980 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $23,980 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
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 Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 50 | $27,456 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Pennsylvania College of Art and Design is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 94 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $27,000 |
| Middle income | $18,500 |
| High income | $25,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $25,415 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
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.
Did You Know?
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.