by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Northwestern Michigan College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at NMC, 26% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $9,693 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $5,123, or about 93.1% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 NMC, 25% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $6,114 per year. It comes to 19.3% more than the $5,123 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,228 in two years and roughly $24,456 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 25% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,114 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 673 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,114,557 |
The median student at NMC borrows $8,191 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,191 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for NMC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,241 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $15,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $28,229 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at NMC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at NMC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 355 | $14,299 |
| Completed (graduates) | 106 | $18,375 |
| Did not complete | 249 | $13,778 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $218.5/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at NMC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 345 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 238 | $14,393 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 117 | $13,979 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at NMC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for NMC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1282 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $6,928 |
| High income | $6,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $10,305 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at NMC.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.