by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for The College of New Jersey, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At TCNJ specifically, 52% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $11,855 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federal loan is $5,299, which is 96.3% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at TCNJ, 49% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $6,282 annually. That amounts to 18.6% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,299.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,564 after two years and $25,128 over a four-year span. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 49% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,282 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,364 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $21,133,287 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at TCNJ carry a median federal debt of $21,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for TCNJ.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,258 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at TCNJ.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for TCNJ.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 511 | $27,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 383 | $30,611 |
| Did not complete | 128 | $20,000 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $364.0/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at TCNJ.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 460 | $27,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 51 | $28,871 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. TCNJ.
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 TCNJ follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1221 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,278 |
| Middle income | $20,500 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,250 |
| Independent students | $23,000 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at TCNJ.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.