by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Los Angeles Pierce 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.
At Pierce College, 2% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $9,595 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $8,295. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Pierce College, 3% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $8,260 per year. This is 0.4% lower than the $8,295 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $16,520 by year two and around $33,040 over a four-year span. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 3% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,260 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 394 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,254,397 |
The median student at Pierce College borrows $12,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,936 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Pierce College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,500 |
| 25th percentile | $4,500 |
| 75th percentile | $19,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Pierce College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Pierce College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 793 | $13,846 |
| Completed (graduates) | 42 | $15,644 |
| Did not complete | 751 | $13,780 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $186.02/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Pierce College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 765 | $13,998 |
| No Stafford loan | 28 | $9,278 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 23 | $10,986 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 770 | $13,925 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Pierce College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Pierce College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 364 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,250 |
| Middle income | $9,451 |
| High income | $5,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $10,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,637 |
| Independent students | $17,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Pierce 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.
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.