by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend West Virginia Junior College-United Career Institute: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at United Career Institute, 100% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $4,757 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,757, representing 86.5% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at United Career Institute, freshmen included, 93% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $4,765 each per year. This works out to 0.2% larger than the freshman federal average of $4,757.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $9,530 across two years and $19,060 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 | 93% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,765 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 53 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $252,543 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at United Career Institute carry a median federal debt of $8,178 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,178 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,881 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,732 |
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 United Career Institute.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,274 |
| 25th percentile | $5,118 |
| 75th percentile | $11,701 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,055 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at United Career Institute.
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 United Career Institute.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 133 | $8,216 |
| Completed (graduates) | 87 | $9,900 |
| Did not complete | 46 | $6,146 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $117.72/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at United Career Institute.
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 United Career Institute is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 292 |
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 | $7,572 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $11,567 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,136 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,001 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,356 |
| Independent students | $8,136 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at United Career Institute.
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.
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.