by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Southern California Institute of Architecture, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At SCI-Arc specifically, 26% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $11,325 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,668. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Looking at all undergraduates at SCI-Arc, freshmen included, 24% rely on federal student loans toward their education, for a typical $8,038 annually. That is 41.8% higher than the $5,668 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $16,076 in two years and roughly $32,152 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 24% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,038 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 57 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $458,187 |
The middle borrower at SCI-Arc owes $33,250 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $33,250 |
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for SCI-Arc.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $17,000 |
| 75th percentile | $44,500 |
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 SCI-Arc.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 33 | $55,274 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SCI-Arc.
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 SCI-Arc appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 114 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.