by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Salt Lake Community College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at Salt Lake Community College, 11% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $5,048 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,873, representing 88.6% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at Salt Lake Community College, 12% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $5,597 a year. That amounts to 14.9% greater than the $4,873 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,194 across two years and $22,388 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 12% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,597 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,116 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $11,842,727 |
The median student at Salt Lake Community College borrows $4,408 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $4,408 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,003 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,500 |
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 Salt Lake Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,548 |
| 25th percentile | $2,042 |
| 75th percentile | $9,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Salt Lake Community College.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Salt Lake Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 663 | $11,800 |
| Completed (graduates) | 97 | $8,643 |
| Did not complete | 566 | $12,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $102.77/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Salt Lake Community College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 645 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 18 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 192 | $8,340 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 471 | $12,935 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Salt Lake Community College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Salt Lake Community College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3832 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $4,500 |
| Middle income | $4,500 |
| High income | $3,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $3,946 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,500 |
| Independent students | $4,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Salt Lake Community College.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Did You Know?
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.