by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Prairie State College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Prairie State College, 8% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $5,245 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,245, which is 95.4% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
For undergraduates overall at Prairie State College, 10% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $6,493 in federal loans per year. It comes to 23.8% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,245.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,986 in two years and roughly $25,972 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 | 10% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,493 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 250 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,623,196 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Prairie State College carry a median federal debt of $8,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Prairie State College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $11,000 |
| 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 Prairie State College.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Prairie State College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 438 | $12,131 |
| Completed (graduates) | 103 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 335 | $12,975 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $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 Prairie State College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 426 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 12 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 96 | $9,814 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 342 | $12,483 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Prairie State College.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Prairie State College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 301 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,111 |
| Middle income | $6,750 |
| High income | $6,225 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Prairie State 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.