by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Salish Kootenai College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at SKC, 3% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,253 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,253, equal to roughly 95.5% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at SKC, 18% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $5,144 in federal loans per year. This works out to 2.1% smaller than the first-year federal average of $5,253.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $10,288 after two years and $20,576 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 18% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,144 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 102 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $524,725 |
The median student at SKC borrows $8,450 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,450 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,923 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,834 |
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 SKC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,978 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $14,193 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $21,167 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at SKC.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SKC.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for SKC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 223 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $8,246 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,893 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,225 |
| Independent students | $8,700 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for SKC.
Subsidized and 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.
Important to Remember
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.