by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Hillsborough Community 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.
Among first-year students at HCC, 64% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $5,019 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,979, which is 90.5% 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.
Counting every undergraduate at HCC, 53% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $5,797 a year. That is 16.4% higher than the $4,979 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,594 across two years and $23,188 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 53% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,797 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 10,519 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $60,975,660 |
The median student at HCC borrows $6,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,762 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 HCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,250 |
| 75th percentile | $12,353 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $21,771 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at HCC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at HCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1280 | $11,342 |
| Completed (graduates) | 381 | $11,400 |
| Did not complete | 899 | $11,333 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $135.56/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at HCC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1244 | $11,207 |
| No Stafford loan | 36 | $14,273 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 508 | $10,064 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 772 | $12,000 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for HCC.
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 HCC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2904 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,926 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,275 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for HCC.
Subsidized vs. 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
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.