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Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 YearCohort 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 IncomeIncome tier Median federal debt Low income $5,250 Middle income $4,500 High income $3,500
First-Generation ComparisonCohort Median federal debt First-generation students $4,500 Continuing-generation students $4,500
By Dependency StatusCohort 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.