by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Johnson County Community College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at JCCC, 10% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $3,867 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The typical federal loan comes to $3,750, representing 68.2% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 JCCC, 12% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $4,331 a year. That is 15.5% more than the first-year federal average of $3,750.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $8,662 across two years and $17,324 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 12% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,331 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,297 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,617,558 |
The median student at JCCC borrows $4,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $4,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for JCCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,250 |
| 75th percentile | $9,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,614 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at JCCC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for JCCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2363 | $16,504 |
| Completed (graduates) | 290 | $11,179 |
| Did not complete | 2073 | $17,394 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $132.93/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at JCCC.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2263 | $16,597 |
| No Stafford loan | 100 | $14,548 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 445 | $12,259 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1918 | $17,814 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. JCCC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for JCCC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2799 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,250 |
| Middle income | $4,500 |
| High income | $3,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,563 |
| Independent students | $6,250 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at JCCC.
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.