by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Mount Wachusett Community 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.
For incoming students at MWCC, 26% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $4,896 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $4,534, representing 82.4% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at MWCC, 21% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $4,762 a year. That amounts to 5.0% above the $4,534 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $9,524 in two years and roughly $19,048 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 21% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,762 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 542 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,581,264 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at MWCC carry a median federal debt of $5,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,252 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,357 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for MWCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $941 |
| 25th percentile | $1,837 |
| 75th percentile | $8,564 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,250 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at MWCC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for MWCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 237 | $12,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 79 | $11,653 |
| Did not complete | 158 | $12,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $138.57/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at MWCC.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 131 | $10,475 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 106 | $12,830 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for MWCC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for MWCC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 820 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $4,509 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $6,444 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $6,227 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at MWCC.
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.
Did You Know?
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.