Community college students are a vulnerable higher education population who experience low rates of degree attainment. As the costs of higher education rise, however, more students at these two-year institutions are borrowing federal student loans in order to afford attendance. In addition, state funding for higher education has decreased in recent years, though notably at different rates in each state as there is no national system of community colleges. This study used data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (04:09) and IPEDS to conduct a nonlinear hierarchical regression analysis that examined the relationship between federal student loan borrowing in the first year of enrollment and persistence rates among students enrolled in associate's degree programs in the first, third and sixth years of enrollment for the 2003--2004 student cohort. This analysis also tested the role of state and local funding models as a moderator in the relationship between borrowing and persistence. Results indicate that student GPA and attendance intensity had a positive effect on student persistence and that the presence of local funding may significantly affect persistence in states with low state funding for higher education. However, no significant relationship was found between federal loan borrowing and community college student persistence, and state and local funding models did not serve as a moderator in any of the models tested. Findings suggest the need for additional research on a combination of financial and non-financial factors influencing persistence.