by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Wilkes 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.
At Wilkes Community College specifically, 0% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs.
| 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 Wilkes Community College carry a median federal debt of $5,600 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,600 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $7,625 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Wilkes Community College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $11,689 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Wilkes Community College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Wilkes Community College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 69 | $13,194 |
| Completed (graduates) | 28 | $12,015 |
| Did not complete | 41 | $13,274 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $142.87/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Wilkes Community College.
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 Wilkes Community College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 213 |
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 | $6,594 |
| Middle income | $4,501 |
| High income | $4,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,888 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,250 |
| Independent students | $8,078 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Wilkes Community College.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.