by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Santa Barbara City College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At SBCC, 5% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $5,199 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $5,199, which is 94.5% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at SBCC, freshmen included, 4% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,308 annually. That is 21.3% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,199.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,616 after two years and $25,232 after four. 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 | $6,308 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 428 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,699,923 |
The median student at SBCC borrows $8,250 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 SBCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,400 |
| 25th percentile | $3,800 |
| 75th percentile | $11,113 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,796 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at SBCC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for SBCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1036 | $19,980 |
| Completed (graduates) | 75 | $20,603 |
| Did not complete | 961 | $19,922 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $244.99/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 SBCC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 968 | $20,160 |
| No Stafford loan | 68 | $16,807 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 196 | $17,060 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 840 | $21,158 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SBCC.
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 SBCC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1010 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $7,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,440 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,864 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at SBCC.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.