by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend East Mississippi 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.
Among first-year students at EMCC, 20% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $4,706 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,024, or about 73.2% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. 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 EMCC, 21% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $4,576 a year. It comes to 13.7% larger than the $4,024 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $9,152 by year two and around $18,304 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 | 21% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,576 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 604 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,764,135 |
The median student at EMCC borrows $5,790 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,790 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,006 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at EMCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,671 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $10,973 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,300 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at EMCC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at EMCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 236 | $10,871 |
| Completed (graduates) | 31 | $9,491 |
| Did not complete | 205 | $11,250 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $112.86/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at EMCC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 224 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 12 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 80 | $8,531 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 156 | $13,477 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. EMCC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for EMCC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1845 |
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 | $6,154 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for EMCC.
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
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.