by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Polk State College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Polk State specifically, 8% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $3,303 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $3,303, equal to roughly 60.1% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Polk State (freshmen included), 9% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $3,546 each per year. This is 7.4% higher than the $3,303 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $7,092 after two years and $14,184 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 9% |
| Average federal loan per year | $3,546 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 524 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,857,895 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Polk State carry a median federal debt of $6,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,076 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Polk State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $14,196 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,875 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Polk State.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Polk State.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 421 | $10,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 153 | $9,600 |
| Did not complete | 268 | $10,668 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $114.15/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 Polk State.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 410 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 11 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 145 | $10,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 276 | $9,987 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Polk State.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Polk State appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 180 |
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 | $6,781 |
| Middle income | $6,095 |
| High income | $6,532 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,370 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Polk State.
Subsidized and 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.
Important to Remember
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.