by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Mendocino 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 Mendocino College, 5% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $6,842 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $6,842. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Across the full undergraduate body at Mendocino College (freshmen included), 4% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $7,732 per year. It comes to 13.0% larger than the freshman federal average of $6,842.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,464 in two years and roughly $30,928 after four. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 4% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,732 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 118 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $912,411 |
The middle borrower at Mendocino College owes $9,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,836 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,364 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Mendocino College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,325 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $11,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $21,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Mendocino College.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at Mendocino College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 133 | $14,827 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Mendocino College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Mendocino College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 90 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,788 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,250 |
| Independent students | $9,625 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Mendocino 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.
Important to Remember
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.