by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Spokane Falls Community 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.
Among first-year students at Spokane Falls Community College, 16% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $6,443 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,941. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Spokane Falls Community College, 23% take out federal student loans, at an average of $6,638 per year. That amounts to 11.7% higher than the freshman federal average of $5,941.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,276 by year two and around $26,552 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 23% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,638 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 673 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,467,636 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Spokane Falls Community College carry a median federal debt of $7,645 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,645 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $12,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,000 |
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 Spokane Falls Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,925 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $11,902 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Spokane Falls Community College.
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 Spokane Falls Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 291 | $13,005 |
| Completed (graduates) | 78 | $12,520 |
| Did not complete | 213 | $13,253 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $148.88/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 Spokane Falls Community College.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 275 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 16 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 116 | $10,119 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 175 | $15,698 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Spokane Falls 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. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Spokane Falls Community College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1382 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,293 |
| Middle income | $7,000 |
| High income | $6,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,831 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,808 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Spokane Falls 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.
Important to Remember
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.