by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Western Piedmont Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at WPCC, 2% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $9,322 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 0% |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 0 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $0 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at WPCC carry a median federal debt of $3,750 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $3,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,750 |
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 WPCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,630 |
| 25th percentile | $2,327 |
| 75th percentile | $5,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $8,750 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at WPCC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for WPCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 81 | $12,887 |
| Completed (graduates) | 25 | $16,455 |
| Did not complete | 56 | $11,868 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $195.67/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at WPCC.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for WPCC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 31.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 289 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Subsidized and 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.
Important to Remember
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.