by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Niagara County Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Niagara County Community College, 28% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $4,986 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,986, amounting to 90.7% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at Niagara County Community College, 30% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $5,387 a year. This is 8.0% more than the $4,986 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $10,774 over two years and about $21,548 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 30% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,387 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 848 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,568,237 |
The median student at Niagara County Community College borrows $7,070 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,070 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,039 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 Niagara County Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,472 |
| 75th percentile | $11,743 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Niagara County Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Niagara County Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 296 | $9,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 127 | $10,100 |
| Did not complete | 169 | $7,867 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $120.1/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 Niagara County Community College.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 194 | $8,095 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 102 | $10,482 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Niagara County Community College.
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 Niagara County Community College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1701 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,500 |
| Middle income | $7,074 |
| High income | $7,835 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,558 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,618 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Niagara County Community College.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Worth Knowing
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.