by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Iowa Western Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Iowa Western Community College, 41% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $5,301 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $4,910, amounting to 89.3% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at Iowa Western Community College, 36% rely on federal student loans toward their education, borrowing on average $5,574 per year. That is 13.5% above the $4,910 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,148 after two years and $22,296 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 36% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,574 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,097 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,114,771 |
The median student at Iowa Western Community College borrows $8,098 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,098 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,033 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Iowa Western Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,233 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $13,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $23,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Iowa Western Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Iowa Western Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 512 | $9,156 |
| Completed (graduates) | 192 | $9,326 |
| Did not complete | 320 | $9,080 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $110.9/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Iowa Western Community College.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 502 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 408 | $8,623 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 104 | $14,931 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Iowa Western Community College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Iowa Western Community College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1701 |
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 | $9,238 |
| Middle income | $7,295 |
| High income | $6,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,981 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $10,498 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Iowa Western Community 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.
Important to Remember
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.