by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Western Wyoming Community College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At WWCC, 19% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $5,216 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $5,130, or about 93.3% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at WWCC, 23% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $6,587 each per year. It comes to 28.4% more than the first-year federal average of $5,130.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,174 in two years and roughly $26,348 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 23% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,587 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 290 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,910,342 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at WWCC carry a median federal debt of $4,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $4,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 WWCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,632 |
| 75th percentile | $7,791 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $12,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at WWCC.
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 WWCC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 39 | $8,740 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for WWCC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for WWCC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 376 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $3,922 |
| Middle income | $5,250 |
| High income | $4,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,994 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,500 |
| Independent students | $4,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at WWCC.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Did You Know?
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.