by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Delta College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Delta College specifically, 9% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, averaging $4,744 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $4,321, representing 78.6% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Delta College (freshmen included), 14% take out federal student loans, at an average of $5,086 a year. This is 17.7% above the first-year federal average of $4,321.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $10,172 over two years and about $20,344 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 | 14% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,086 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 859 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,368,826 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Delta College carry a median federal debt of $6,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,978 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,433 |
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 Delta College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,313 |
| 25th percentile | $2,403 |
| 75th percentile | $9,944 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,482 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Delta College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Delta College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 454 | $10,982 |
| Completed (graduates) | 89 | $9,774 |
| Did not complete | 365 | $11,147 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $116.22/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Delta College.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 440 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 144 | $8,345 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 310 | $12,521 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Delta College.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Delta College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1694 |
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 | $6,500 |
| Middle income | $5,939 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,228 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $7,303 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Delta College.
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.
Did You Know?
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.