by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for South Central 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 South Central College, 21% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $4,678 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,678, or about 85.1% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. 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 South Central College, 28% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $5,975 per year. That amounts to 27.7% more than the freshman federal average of $4,678.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $11,950 after two years and $23,900 after four. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 28% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,975 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 520 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,106,964 |
The middle borrower at South Central College owes $8,250 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,665 |
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 South Central College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,290 |
| 25th percentile | $4,399 |
| 75th percentile | $15,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,250 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at South Central 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 South Central College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 143 | $9,973 |
| Completed (graduates) | 36 | $10,040 |
| Did not complete | 107 | $9,800 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $119.39/mo.
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 South Central College.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 82 | $8,479 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 61 | $11,010 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. South Central College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for South Central College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1155 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $7,564 |
| High income | $6,277 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,329 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,019 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,064 |
| Independent students | $10,438 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for South Central College.
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.
Did You Know?
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.