by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Schenectady County Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At SUNY Schenectady specifically, 25% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $5,371 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,520, which is 82.2% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at SUNY Schenectady, 24% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $5,516 per year. This is 22.0% above the $4,520 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,032 by year two and around $22,064 after four. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 24% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,516 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 366 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,018,982 |
The median student at SUNY Schenectady borrows $6,887 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,887 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,049 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,625 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at SUNY Schenectady.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,380 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $11,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at SUNY Schenectady.
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 SUNY Schenectady.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 307 | $11,886 |
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 SUNY Schenectady.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 131 | $9,647 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 176 | $14,440 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SUNY Schenectady.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for SUNY Schenectady is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 18.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 983 |
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 | $7,005 |
| Middle income | $6,625 |
| High income | $6,494 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,720 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,494 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SUNY Schenectady.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Important to Remember
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.