by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend SAE Institute of Technology-Nashville: 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 SAE Institute - Nashville specifically, 73% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $7,065 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $7,065. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for 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.
Counting every undergraduate at SAE Institute - Nashville, 70% rely on federal student loans toward their education, for a typical $7,354 in federal loans per year. This is 4.1% larger than the $7,065 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,708 after two years and $29,416 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,354 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,262 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,281,124 |
The median student at SAE Institute - Nashville borrows $9,245 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,245 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| 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Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 SAE Institute - Nashville.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,167 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $19,850 |
| 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 SAE Institute - Nashville.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for SAE Institute - Nashville.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 512 | $12,698 |
| Completed (graduates) | 272 | $15,428 |
| Did not complete | 240 | $8,942 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $183.46/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at SAE Institute - Nashville.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 495 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 17 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 481 | $12,707 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 31 | $6,990 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for SAE Institute - Nashville.
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 SAE Institute - Nashville follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 113 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $6,494 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,177 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at SAE Institute - Nashville.
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?
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.