by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Blue Ridge Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Blue Ridge Community College, 4% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $5,960 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,960. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at Blue Ridge Community College, 7% take out federal student loans, averaging $6,102 annually. That is 2.4% higher than the $5,960 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,204 in two years and roughly $24,408 after four. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 7% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,102 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 118 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $720,041 |
The median student at Blue Ridge Community College borrows $9,280 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,280 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Blue Ridge Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,403 |
| 25th percentile | $4,175 |
| 75th percentile | $15,396 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $22,938 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Blue Ridge Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Blue Ridge Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 125 | $12,173 |
| Completed (graduates) | 31 | $9,347 |
| Did not complete | 94 | $13,159 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $111.15/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Blue Ridge Community College.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 27 | $9,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 98 | $12,748 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Blue Ridge Community College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Blue Ridge Community College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 18.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 74 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 |
| Middle income | $9,386 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,863 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Blue Ridge Community College.
Subsidized vs. 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.