by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Bates College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Bates, 14% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $15,005 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,594, representing 83.5% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Across the full undergraduate body at Bates (freshmen included), 14% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $5,259 annually. This works out to 14.5% higher than the freshman federal average of $4,594.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $10,518 after two years and $21,036 by the fourth year. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 14% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,259 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 242 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,272,736 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Bates carry a median federal debt of $12,442 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,442 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $14,275 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,495 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Bates.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,350 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $21,354 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $28,950 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Bates.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Bates.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 78 | $70,222 |
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 Bates.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 59 | $51,715 |
| No Stafford loan | 19 | $76,661 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 59 | $51,715 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 19 | $76,661 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Bates.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Bates is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 142 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,156 |
| Middle income | $15,059 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,990 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Bates.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.