by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at SCCTC, 42% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $6,450 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $6,450. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at SCCTC, freshmen included, 40% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $6,450 a year.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,900 across two years and $25,800 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 40% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,450 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 22 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $141,908 |
The middle borrower at SCCTC owes $5,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for SCCTC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $4,750 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SCCTC.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for SCCTC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 8 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $7,220 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
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.