by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Los Angeles Harbor College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At LAHC, 0% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $8,917 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $8,917. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at LAHC, 1% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $7,311 annually. It comes to 18.0% smaller than the freshman federal average of $8,917.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $14,622 by year two and around $29,244 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 | 1% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,311 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 45 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $328,984 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at LAHC carry a median federal debt of $5,795 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,795 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,875 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 LAHC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,250 |
| 75th percentile | $6,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $11,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at LAHC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for LAHC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 309 | $13,816 |
| Completed (graduates) | 22 | $13,842 |
| Did not complete | 287 | $13,816 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $164.6/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at LAHC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 292 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 17 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for LAHC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for LAHC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 79 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,875 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,576 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,000 |
| Independent students | $7,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for LAHC.
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.
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.