by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend McHenry County College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at MCC, 5% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, at roughly $5,125 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $4,676, or about 85.0% 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.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at MCC, 3% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $4,743 annually. This works out to 1.4% larger than the $4,676 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $9,486 by year two and around $18,972 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 3% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,743 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 132 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $626,116 |
The median student at MCC borrows $5,297 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,297 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $6,260 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,000 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at MCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,515 |
| 25th percentile | $2,300 |
| 75th percentile | $8,160 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at MCC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at MCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 431 | $19,301 |
| Completed (graduates) | 85 | $16,080 |
| Did not complete | 346 | $20,385 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $191.21/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 MCC.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 419 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 12 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 57 | $13,482 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 374 | $20,765 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for MCC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for MCC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 271 |
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 | $6,400 |
| Middle income | $4,350 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,429 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,176 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,950 |
| Independent students | $7,705 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at MCC.
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.
Did You Know?
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.