by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Harford Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Harford Community College specifically, 17% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $5,458 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,122, equal to roughly 93.1% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at Harford Community College, 13% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $5,610 a year. It comes to 9.5% above the $5,122 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,220 over two years and about $22,440 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 13% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,610 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 500 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,805,173 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Harford Community College carry a median federal debt of $7,241 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,241 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,812 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,000 |
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 Harford Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $9,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Harford Community College.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Harford Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 421 | $14,774 |
| Completed (graduates) | 92 | $12,218 |
| Did not complete | 329 | $15,650 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $145.29/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Harford Community College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 399 | $15,004 |
| No Stafford loan | 22 | $9,918 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 101 | $13,028 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 320 | $15,721 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Harford Community College.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Harford Community College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 190 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,325 |
| Middle income | $6,750 |
| High income | $6,872 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,544 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,395 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Harford Community College.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Important to Remember
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.