by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Southwestern Illinois College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at SWIC, 15% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $3,413 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $3,192, amounting to 58.0% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at SWIC, 15% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $3,846 per year. It comes to 20.5% more than the $3,192 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $7,692 over two years and about $15,384 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 15% |
| Average federal loan per year | $3,846 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 786 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,022,846 |
The median student at SWIC borrows $4,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $4,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $6,908 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for SWIC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,305 |
| 25th percentile | $1,750 |
| 75th percentile | $7,650 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at SWIC.
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 SWIC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 703 | $12,155 |
| Completed (graduates) | 119 | $10,798 |
| Did not complete | 584 | $12,500 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $128.4/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at SWIC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 673 | $12,500 |
| No Stafford loan | 30 | $8,679 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 189 | $9,790 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 514 | $13,465 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SWIC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for SWIC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1428 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $3,500 |
| Middle income | $3,542 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,825 |
| Independent students | $4,302 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SWIC.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Worth Knowing
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.