by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Piedmont Technical College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Piedmont Technical College, 16% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $6,204 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $6,089. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit 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.
For undergraduates overall at Piedmont Technical College, 34% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,677 per year. That is 9.7% more than the freshman federal average of $6,089.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,354 in two years and roughly $26,708 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 34% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,677 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,350 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,013,814 |
The middle borrower at Piedmont Technical College owes $9,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
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 Piedmont Technical College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,334 |
| 75th percentile | $14,649 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Piedmont Technical College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Piedmont Technical College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 300 | $9,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 116 | $9,400 |
| Did not complete | 184 | $9,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $111.78/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 Piedmont Technical College.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 193 | $9,700 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 107 | $8,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Piedmont Technical College.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Piedmont Technical College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1175 |
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 | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $8,250 |
| High income | $6,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,025 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $11,250 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Piedmont Technical College.
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
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.