by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Alma College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Alma, 54% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, borrowing on average $10,368 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $6,644. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at Alma, 57% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $6,740 a year. It comes to 1.4% greater than the $6,644 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,480 after two years and $26,960 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 57% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,740 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 699 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,711,209 |
The middle borrower at Alma owes $23,250 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $23,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,000 |
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 Alma.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $28,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Alma.
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 Alma.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 240 | $34,509 |
| Completed (graduates) | 147 | $45,109 |
| Did not complete | 93 | $20,175 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $536.39/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Alma.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Alma follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 344 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $25,625 |
| Middle income | $25,000 |
| High income | $21,594 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $23,250 |
| Independent students | $13,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Alma.
The Difference Between 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
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.