by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Copper Mountain Community College: 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.
Looking at the entering class at CMC, 4% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $3,500 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $3,500, or about 63.6% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Looking at all undergraduates at CMC, freshmen included, 4% take out federal student loans, for a typical $7,310 per year. This is 108.9% above the $3,500 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $14,620 in two years and roughly $29,240 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 | 4% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,310 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 46 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $336,255 |
The middle borrower at CMC owes $9,250 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,823 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at CMC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $12,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $24,499 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at CMC.
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 CMC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 56 | $8,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. CMC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for CMC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 118 |
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 | $9,875 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,035 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,870 |
| Independent students | $10,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for CMC.
The Difference Between 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.
Worth Knowing
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.