by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Pittsburg State University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at Pitt State, 48% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,993 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,747, which is 86.3% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at Pitt State, 44% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $5,683 per year. That amounts to 19.7% greater than the first-year federal average of $4,747.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,366 over two years and about $22,732 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 44% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,683 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,836 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $10,433,175 |
The median student at Pitt State borrows $14,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,969 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Pitt State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,070 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,746 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Pitt State.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Pitt State.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 632 | $9,891 |
| Completed (graduates) | 345 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 287 | $9,354 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $118.91/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 Pitt State.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 509 | $9,567 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 123 | $11,485 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Pitt State.
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 Pitt State appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1715 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,000 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $14,442 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $14,250 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Pitt State.
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?
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.