by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Arapahoe Community College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Arapahoe Community College, 18% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $5,528 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,013, which is 91.1% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
For undergraduates overall at Arapahoe Community College, 20% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $5,987 annually. This is 19.4% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,013.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,974 in two years and roughly $23,948 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 20% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,987 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,088 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,514,061 |
The middle borrower at Arapahoe Community College owes $6,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,884 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Arapahoe Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,346 |
| 75th percentile | $10,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $18,700 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Arapahoe Community 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 Arapahoe Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 893 | $15,720 |
| Completed (graduates) | 163 | $15,288 |
| Did not complete | 730 | $15,805 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $181.79/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 Arapahoe Community College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 862 | $15,751 |
| No Stafford loan | 31 | $15,072 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 273 | $11,135 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 620 | $18,752 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Arapahoe Community College.
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 Arapahoe Community College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1821 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,423 |
| Middle income | $7,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,599 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,363 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Arapahoe Community College.
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.