by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Mt San Antonio College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Mt. SAC, 0% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $5,942 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The typical federal loan comes to $6,419. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at Mt. SAC, 1% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $7,049 in federal loans per year. It comes to 9.8% greater than the $6,419 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,098 by year two and around $28,196 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 | 1% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,049 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 276 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,945,439 |
The median student at Mt. SAC borrows $5,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $5,880 |
| 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 Mt. SAC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,250 |
| 75th percentile | $7,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $12,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Mt. SAC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Mt. SAC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1797 | $14,738 |
| Completed (graduates) | 165 | $12,200 |
| Did not complete | 1632 | $14,997 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $145.07/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Mt. SAC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1720 | $14,956 |
| No Stafford loan | 77 | $11,642 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 25 | $8,888 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1772 | $14,904 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Mt. SAC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Mt. SAC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 236 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,500 |
| Middle income | $5,250 |
| High income | $4,500 |
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 | $4,500 |
| Independent students | $6,900 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Mt. SAC.
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
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.