by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend William Rainey Harper College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Harper College, 3% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,473 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,094, or about 92.6% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at Harper College, 3% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,258 in federal loans per year. This is 22.9% more than the $5,094 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,516 in two years and roughly $25,032 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 3% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,258 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 261 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,633,446 |
The middle borrower at Harper College owes $6,230 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,230 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,184 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 Harper College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,751 |
| 75th percentile | $10,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Harper College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Harper College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1218 | $20,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 265 | $15,645 |
| Did not complete | 953 | $20,686 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $186.04/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Harper College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1179 | $20,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 39 | $11,735 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 150 | $12,900 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1068 | $20,942 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Harper College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Harper College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1147 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,065 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,400 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Harper College.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.