by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Mott Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At MCC, 27% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $3,467 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $3,430, which is 62.4% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at MCC, 32% take out federal student loans, for a typical $3,775 annually. This works out to 10.1% greater than the first-year federal average of $3,430.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $7,550 in two years and roughly $15,100 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 32% |
| Average federal loan per year | $3,775 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,656 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,251,680 |
The median student at MCC borrows $5,975 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,975 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
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) | $1,834 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $14,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,653 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are 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 | 429 | $9,426 |
| Completed (graduates) | 93 | $8,550 |
| Did not complete | 336 | $9,958 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $101.67/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.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 208 | $8,021 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 221 | $11,526 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. MCC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for MCC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2673 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,103 |
| Middle income | $5,917 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,084 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $7,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at MCC.
The Difference Between 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
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.