by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Portage Lakes Career Center, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at Portage Lakes Career Center, 57% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $6,535 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $6,535. 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.
Looking at all undergraduates at Portage Lakes Career Center, freshmen included, 42% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $7,424 each per year. That is 13.6% more than the freshman federal average of $6,535.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,848 over two years and about $29,696 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 42% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,424 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 106 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $786,961 |
The median student at Portage Lakes Career Center borrows $6,333 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,333 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,444 |
| Students who withdrew | $2,973 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Portage Lakes Career Center.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,626 |
| 25th percentile | $3,666 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,721 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Portage Lakes Career Center.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Portage Lakes Career Center.
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 Portage Lakes Career Center appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 61 |
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 | $6,333 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,896 |
| Independent students | $6,333 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Portage Lakes Career Center.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.