by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Southwestern Community 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.
Among first-year students at SWCC, 44% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $5,198 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,573, representing 83.1% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
For undergraduates overall at SWCC, 45% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,009 each per year. That amounts to 31.4% greater than the freshman federal average of $4,573.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,018 in two years and roughly $24,036 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 45% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,009 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 348 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,091,039 |
The middle borrower at SWCC owes $7,418 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,418 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,975 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at SWCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,000 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $12,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at SWCC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at SWCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 116 | $9,721 |
| Completed (graduates) | 44 | $9,440 |
| Did not complete | 72 | $10,111 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $112.25/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 SWCC.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 64 | $7,949 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 52 | $12,381 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SWCC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for SWCC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 17.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 476 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,750 |
| Middle income | $6,739 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SWCC.
The Difference Between 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.
Worth Knowing
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.