by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Trident Technical College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Trident Technical College, 15% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $3,498 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $3,238, amounting to 58.9% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. 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 Trident Technical College, freshmen included, 17% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $4,418 annually. It comes to 36.4% above the $3,238 freshmen take on.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $8,836 over two years and about $17,672 after four. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 17% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,418 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,855 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,195,728 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Trident Technical College carry a median federal debt of $6,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,029 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,384 |
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 Trident Technical College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $4,000 |
| 75th percentile | $21,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,826 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Trident Technical 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 Trident Technical College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1578 | $14,335 |
| Completed (graduates) | 145 | $13,293 |
| Did not complete | 1433 | $14,500 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $158.07/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Trident Technical College.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1531 | $14,500 |
| No Stafford loan | 47 | $9,618 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 570 | $10,950 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1008 | $16,310 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Trident Technical College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Trident Technical College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3878 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,500 |
| Middle income | $5,984 |
| High income | $4,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,815 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,336 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,272 |
| Independent students | $9,250 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Trident Technical College.
The Difference Between 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
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.