by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Bristol Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Bristol, 29% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $6,046 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,918. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Bristol, 30% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,893 each per year. That is 16.5% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,918.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,786 by year two and around $27,572 over a four-year span. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 30% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,893 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,522 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $10,491,570 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Bristol carry a median federal debt of $5,250 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,243 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,122 |
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 Bristol.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $450 |
| 25th percentile | $1,400 |
| 75th percentile | $7,130 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $11,950 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Bristol.
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 Bristol.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 417 | $12,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 99 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 318 | $12,395 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $118.91/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 Bristol.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 407 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 214 | $11,022 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 203 | $12,738 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Bristol.
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 Bristol follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1067 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $3,058 |
| Middle income | $5,496 |
| High income | $7,800 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,100 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $3,915 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Bristol.
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.
Important to Remember
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.