by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend College of the Redwoods: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at College of the Redwoods, 9% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, averaging $5,196 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $5,196, amounting to 94.5% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at College of the Redwoods, freshmen included, 7% finance part of their studies with federal loans, for a typical $6,754 per year. This is 30.0% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,196.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,508 across two years and $27,016 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 | 7% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,754 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 248 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,675,003 |
The median student at College of the Redwoods borrows $6,666 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,666 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,080 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at College of the Redwoods.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $8,003 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $12,484 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at College of the Redwoods.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for College of the Redwoods.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 163 | $11,000 |
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 College of the Redwoods.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 143 | $11,417 |
| No Stafford loan | 20 | $10,355 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 25 | $8,572 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 138 | $12,000 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for College of the Redwoods.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for College of the Redwoods appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 518 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
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 | $6,837 |
| Middle income | $6,799 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,625 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $8,080 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for College of the Redwoods.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.