by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Berkeley City 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.
Among first-year students at Berkeley City College, 2% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $6,929 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $6,929. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at Berkeley City College (freshmen included), 1% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $8,543 in federal loans per year. This works out to 23.3% more than the $6,929 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $17,086 after two years and $34,172 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 1% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,543 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 53 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $452,791 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Berkeley City College carry a median federal debt of $9,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Berkeley City College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,500 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $10,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $18,650 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Berkeley City College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Berkeley City College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 498 | $19,684 |
| Completed (graduates) | 21 | $12,911 |
| Did not complete | 477 | $19,770 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $153.53/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Berkeley City College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 457 | $19,639 |
| No Stafford loan | 41 | $19,770 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 10 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 488 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Berkeley City College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Berkeley City College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 156 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $9,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,625 |
| Independent students | $10,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Berkeley City College.
The Difference Between 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
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.