by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Rocky Mountain College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Rocky, 60% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $8,941 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $5,146, representing 93.6% 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.
Looking at all undergraduates at Rocky, freshmen included, 55% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,124 annually. It comes to 19.0% larger than the freshman federal average of $5,146.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,248 in two years and roughly $24,496 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 55% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,124 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 434 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,657,843 |
The median student at Rocky borrows $12,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,443 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Rocky.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,100 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Rocky.
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 Rocky.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 129 | $15,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 51 | $19,971 |
| Did not complete | 78 | $13,418 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $237.48/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 Rocky.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 113 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 16 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Rocky.
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 Rocky is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 316 |
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 | $12,500 |
| Middle income | $12,500 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,000 |
| Independent students | $13,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Rocky.
Subsidized vs. 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.