by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Wharton County Junior College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Wharton County Junior College, 27% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $5,020 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,020, amounting to 91.3% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at Wharton County Junior College, freshmen included, 19% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $4,963 each per year. That amounts to 1.1% lower than the freshman federal average of $5,020.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $9,926 over two years and about $19,852 by the fourth year. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 19% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,963 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 924 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,585,698 |
The middle borrower at Wharton County Junior College owes $5,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $7,703 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Wharton County Junior College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,750 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,177 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Wharton County Junior 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 Wharton County Junior College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 373 | $14,024 |
| Completed (graduates) | 41 | $14,641 |
| Did not complete | 332 | $14,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $174.1/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Wharton County Junior College.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 354 | $14,012 |
| No Stafford loan | 19 | $17,751 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 70 | $11,034 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 303 | $15,330 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Wharton County Junior College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Wharton County Junior College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 598 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,500 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $6,924 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Wharton County Junior College.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.