by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Millsaps College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Millsaps specifically, 61% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $7,733 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,979, amounting to 90.5% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Millsaps, 61% rely on federal student loans toward their education, borrowing on average $6,446 annually. This is 29.5% more than the freshman federal average of $4,979.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,892 by year two and around $25,784 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 61% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,446 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 344 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,217,532 |
The median student at Millsaps borrows $19,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,125 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Millsaps.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Millsaps.
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 Millsaps.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 153 | $28,390 |
| Completed (graduates) | 86 | $47,050 |
| Did not complete | 67 | $14,958 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $559.47/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Millsaps.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Millsaps is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 228 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,250 |
| Middle income | $16,162 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Millsaps.
Subsidized and 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
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.