by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend University of South Carolina Aiken, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At UofSC Aiken specifically, 52% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $5,855 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,037, which is 91.6% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at UofSC Aiken, 48% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,438 a year. This works out to 27.8% above the $5,037 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,876 by year two and around $25,752 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 48% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,438 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,351 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,698,012 |
The middle borrower at UofSC Aiken owes $13,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $24,275 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at UofSC Aiken.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,250 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UofSC Aiken.
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 UofSC Aiken.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 509 | $13,630 |
| Completed (graduates) | 222 | $15,976 |
| Did not complete | 287 | $12,374 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $189.97/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at UofSC Aiken.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 384 | $13,846 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 125 | $13,000 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for UofSC Aiken.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UofSC Aiken follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 813 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,516 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $12,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,996 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,816 |
| Independent students | $13,933 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UofSC Aiken.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Did You Know?
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.