by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Iowa Central 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.
For incoming students at Iowa Central Community College, 56% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $5,465 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,044, equal to roughly 91.7% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Iowa Central Community College, 57% take out federal student loans, averaging $6,173 each per year. That amounts to 22.4% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,044.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,346 after two years and $24,692 after four. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 57% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,173 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,761 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $10,870,749 |
The median student at Iowa Central Community College borrows $8,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| 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 Iowa Central Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,250 |
| 25th percentile | $4,090 |
| 75th percentile | $12,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $21,250 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Iowa Central Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Iowa Central Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 425 | $7,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 148 | $7,078 |
| Did not complete | 277 | $7,000 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $84.16/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Iowa Central Community College.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 342 | $6,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 83 | $12,000 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Iowa Central Community College.
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 Iowa Central Community College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1877 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,368 |
| Middle income | $8,094 |
| High income | $8,250 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,453 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,750 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Iowa Central Community College.
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
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.