by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University— 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.
At Virginia Tech specifically, 38% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $11,377 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,463, or about 99.3% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. 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 Virginia Tech, freshmen included, 34% rely on federal student loans toward their education, borrowing on average $6,384 a year. This is 16.9% greater than the $5,463 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,768 over two years and about $25,536 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 34% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,384 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 10,256 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $65,471,451 |
The median student at Virginia Tech borrows $19,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Virginia Tech.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $28,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Virginia Tech.
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 Virginia Tech.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2509 | $30,555 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1876 | $35,325 |
| Did not complete | 633 | $22,205 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $420.05/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 Virginia Tech.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2428 | $30,878 |
| No Stafford loan | 81 | $20,340 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2234 | $31,979 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 275 | $20,340 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Virginia Tech.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Virginia Tech follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 4214 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,977 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,844 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,000 |
| Independent students | $17,611 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Virginia Tech.
The Difference Between 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
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.