by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Northern Virginia Community College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Northern Virginia Community College specifically, 15% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $4,764 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,667, amounting to 84.9% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Looking at all undergraduates at Northern Virginia Community College, freshmen included, 12% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $5,340 a year. That is 14.4% greater than the $4,667 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $10,680 across two years and $21,360 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 12% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,340 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,677 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $19,636,586 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Northern Virginia Community College carry a median federal debt of $7,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,962 |
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 Northern Virginia Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $12,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,750 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Northern Virginia Community 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 Northern Virginia Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2981 | $17,935 |
| Completed (graduates) | 392 | $13,175 |
| Did not complete | 2589 | $18,500 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $156.66/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Northern Virginia Community College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2881 | $18,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 100 | $13,110 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 772 | $13,483 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 2209 | $19,524 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Northern Virginia Community College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Northern Virginia Community College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3092 |
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 | $7,750 |
| Middle income | $6,250 |
| High income | $6,970 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Northern Virginia Community College.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.