by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Rust 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.
Looking at the entering class at Rust College, 66% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $5,846 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,024, equal to roughly 91.3% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Rust College, 70% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,475 annually. This works out to 28.9% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,024.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,950 across two years and $25,900 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,475 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 300 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,942,470 |
The median student at Rust College borrows $13,777 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,777 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,159 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,979 |
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 Rust College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Rust College.
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 Rust College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 113 | $5,222 |
| Completed (graduates) | 40 | $5,287 |
| Did not complete | 73 | $5,110 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $62.87/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Rust College.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Rust College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 18.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 370 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,932 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $15,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,806 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,394 |
| Independent students | $18,424 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Rust 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.
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.