by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend St Clair County Community College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at SC4, 15% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $4,985 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,427, which is 80.5% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at SC4, 18% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $5,634 a year. That is 27.3% higher than the $4,427 freshmen take on.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,268 in two years and roughly $22,536 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 18% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,634 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 344 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,938,160 |
The middle borrower at SC4 owes $7,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 SC4.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,500 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $11,309 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $18,851 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at SC4.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at SC4.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 155 | $11,080 |
| Completed (graduates) | 54 | $9,994 |
| Did not complete | 101 | $11,506 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $118.84/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at SC4.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 70 | $8,017 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 85 | $13,000 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SC4.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for SC4 is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 864 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,097 |
| Middle income | $7,414 |
| High income | $6,957 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,449 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $9,837 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at SC4.
Subsidized and 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?
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.