by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Protege Academy: 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.
For incoming students at Protege Academy, 78% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $5,940 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,940. 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.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Protege Academy, 64% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $7,173 per year. It comes to 20.8% larger than the $5,940 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $14,346 across two years and $28,692 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 64% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,173 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 74 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $530,829 |
The middle borrower at Protege Academy owes $9,833 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,833 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,833 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Protege Academy.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,091 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $14,481 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,442 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Protege Academy.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at Protege Academy.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 26 | $7,830 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Protege Academy.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Protege Academy follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,473 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,833 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,833 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,833 |
| Independent students | $8,753 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Protege Academy.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.