by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Southeast Arkansas 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.
Among first-year students at SEARK College, 7% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $7,500 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $7,500. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at SEARK College, 51% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $6,614 each per year. This works out to 11.8% below the $7,500 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,228 in two years and roughly $26,456 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 51% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,614 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 403 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,665,396 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at SEARK College carry a median federal debt of $6,186 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,186 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,600 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,601 |
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 SEARK College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,187 |
| 25th percentile | $2,000 |
| 75th percentile | $8,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,932 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at SEARK 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 SEARK College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 83 | $7,000 |
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at SEARK College.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 30 | $5,854 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 53 | $7,725 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SEARK College.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for SEARK College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 18.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 394 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,562 |
| Middle income | $5,429 |
| High income | $5,380 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,329 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,687 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,284 |
| Independent students | $7,039 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at SEARK College.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.