by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics— 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.
At PIA, 72% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $9,534 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federal loan is $6,571. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. 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 PIA, 66% take out federal student loans, for a typical $7,388 per year. It comes to 12.4% larger than the freshman federal average of $6,571.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,776 in two years and roughly $29,552 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 66% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,388 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 390 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,881,353 |
The median student at PIA borrows $12,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,230 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 PIA.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,159 |
| 25th percentile | $8,750 |
| 75th percentile | $17,005 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at PIA.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at PIA.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 140 | $15,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 101 | $17,500 |
| Did not complete | 39 | $12,500 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $208.09/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. PIA.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for PIA is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 132 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,000 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,754 |
| Independent students | $18,874 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at PIA.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Did You Know?
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.