by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Foothill College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Foothill College, 3% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, at roughly $6,149 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $6,149. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at Foothill College (freshmen included), 3% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,469 per year. That is 5.2% above the $6,149 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,938 by year two and around $25,876 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 3% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,469 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 288 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,863,176 |
The middle borrower at Foothill College owes $6,795 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,795 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
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 Foothill College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $12,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Foothill College.
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 Foothill College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1976 | $22,533 |
| Completed (graduates) | 64 | $22,030 |
| Did not complete | 1912 | $22,553 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $261.96/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Foothill College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1886 | $22,318 |
| No Stafford loan | 90 | $22,810 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 48 | $17,715 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1928 | $22,625 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Foothill College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Foothill College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 333 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,515 |
| Middle income | $7,875 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,815 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,649 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,901 |
| Independent students | $8,802 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Foothill 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.
Worth Knowing
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.