by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Colby 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 Colby, 8% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $9,019 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,240, representing 95.3% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Colby, 9% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $6,252 per year. That amounts to 19.3% higher than the $5,240 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,504 by year two and around $25,008 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 9% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,252 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 195 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,219,099 |
The middle borrower at Colby owes $15,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,157 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,730 |
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 Colby.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $8,790 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,495 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Colby.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Colby.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 69 | $59,570 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Colby.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Colby follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 199 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $4,525 |
| Middle income | $12,210 |
| High income | $19,313 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,689 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Colby.
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.
Important to Remember
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.