by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Rowan College at Burlington County, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At RCBC, 7% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $4,811 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federal loan is $4,649, which is 84.5% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at RCBC, 8% take out federal student loans, for a typical $5,234 per year. That is 12.6% higher than the freshman federal average of $4,649.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $10,468 over two years and about $20,936 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 8% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,234 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 524 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,742,560 |
The middle borrower at RCBC owes $7,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 RCBC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,750 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at RCBC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at RCBC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 675 | $17,200 |
| Completed (graduates) | 143 | $13,778 |
| Did not complete | 532 | $17,969 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $163.84/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 RCBC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 639 | $17,535 |
| No Stafford loan | 36 | $10,111 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 178 | $15,411 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 497 | $17,302 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. RCBC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for RCBC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 639 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,188 |
| Middle income | $7,454 |
| High income | $6,400 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,013 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,302 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,756 |
| Independent students | $9,419 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for RCBC.
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
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.