by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for South Coast College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At South Coast College specifically, 75% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $6,863 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $6,863. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at South Coast College, 93% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $7,807 per year. It comes to 13.8% higher than the $6,863 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,614 in two years and roughly $31,228 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 | 93% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,807 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 223 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,740,937 |
The median student at South Coast College borrows $17,346 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,346 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,938 |
| Students who withdrew | $16,401 |
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 Coast College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,707 |
| 75th percentile | $34,835 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $51,311 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at South Coast College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at South Coast College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 19 | $10,107 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. South Coast College.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for South Coast College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 204 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $16,703 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,625 |
| Continuing-generation students | $36,649 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,704 |
| Independent students | $17,062 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for South Coast College.
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.
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.