by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Raritan Valley Community 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.
At RVCC, 5% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $5,197 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $4,753, which is 86.4% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. 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 RVCC, freshmen included, 4% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $5,956 a year. That is 25.3% more than the $4,753 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $11,912 after two years and $23,824 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 4% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,956 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 223 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,328,171 |
The middle borrower at RVCC owes $6,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for RVCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,500 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,191 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at RVCC.
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 RVCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 502 | $21,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 70 | $16,810 |
| Did not complete | 432 | $21,822 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $199.89/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at RVCC.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 488 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 93 | $11,900 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 409 | $24,331 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. RVCC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for RVCC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 443 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,589 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $6,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,433 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,200 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for RVCC.
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.
Important to Remember
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.