by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Blue Ridge Community and Technical 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.
At Blue Ridge Community and Technical College specifically, 22% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $4,167 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,167, which is 75.8% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, freshmen included, 36% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $4,198 annually. This works out to 0.7% more than the first-year federal average of $4,167.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $8,396 by year two and around $16,792 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 36% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,198 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 564 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,367,555 |
The middle borrower at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College owes $8,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,064 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $15,778 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,450 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 312 | $9,042 |
| Completed (graduates) | 49 | $7,173 |
| Did not complete | 263 | $9,279 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $85.29/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 Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 85 | $7,956 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 227 | $9,520 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Blue Ridge Community and Technical College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 23.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 467 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,395 |
| Middle income | $8,000 |
| High income | $7,300 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,160 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,600 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $9,876 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
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.
Did You Know?
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.