by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend CUNY Queensborough Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at QCC, 2% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $5,289 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,191, which is 94.4% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Looking at all undergraduates at QCC, freshmen included, 4% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $5,410 each per year. This works out to 4.2% larger than the freshman federal average of $5,191.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $10,820 over two years and about $21,640 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 4% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,410 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 391 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,115,490 |
The median student at QCC borrows $5,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,600 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,234 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 QCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,500 |
| 25th percentile | $2,625 |
| 75th percentile | $9,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at QCC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at QCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 411 | $11,266 |
| Completed (graduates) | 82 | $11,496 |
| Did not complete | 329 | $11,238 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $136.7/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 QCC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 395 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 16 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 81 | $10,446 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 330 | $12,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. QCC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for QCC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 718 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,844 |
| Middle income | $5,256 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,014 |
| Independent students | $8,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at QCC.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.