by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Babson College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Babson College, 25% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $9,822 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $3,929, equal to roughly 71.4% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Looking at all undergraduates at Babson College, freshmen included, 28% finance part of their studies with federal loans, borrowing on average $4,981 a year. That is 26.8% larger than the $3,929 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $9,962 in two years and roughly $19,924 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 28% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,981 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 745 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,711,005 |
The middle borrower at Babson College owes $19,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Babson College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $7,250 |
| 25th percentile | $15,853 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Babson College.
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 Babson College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 159 | $36,853 |
| Completed (graduates) | 130 | $41,699 |
| Did not complete | 29 | $21,397 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $495.85/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Babson College.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 109 | $42,400 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 50 | $29,748 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Babson College.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Babson College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 573 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $16,250 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $19,250 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Babson College.
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
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.