by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Riverland Community College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Riverland Community College, 22% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $5,656 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,296, representing 96.3% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Across the full undergraduate body at Riverland Community College (freshmen included), 26% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,645 a year. That is 25.5% more than the first-year federal average of $5,296.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,290 over two years and about $26,580 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 26% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,645 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 494 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,282,701 |
The middle borrower at Riverland Community College owes $9,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,550 |
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 Riverland Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,136 |
| 25th percentile | $4,283 |
| 75th percentile | $17,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,210 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Riverland Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Riverland Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 132 | $8,100 |
| Completed (graduates) | 41 | $7,034 |
| Did not complete | 91 | $8,568 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $83.64/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Riverland Community College.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 72 | $6,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 60 | $12,782 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Riverland 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 Riverland Community College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2068 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $10,500 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $6,250 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $11,986 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Riverland 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.
Did You Know?
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.