by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Belhaven University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Belhaven, 55% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $6,399 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,681. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit 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.
Looking at all undergraduates at Belhaven, freshmen included, 72% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $7,828 in federal loans per year. It comes to 37.8% larger than the $5,681 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $15,656 after two years and $31,312 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 72% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,828 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,024 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,015,819 |
The middle borrower at Belhaven owes $18,549 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,549 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,333 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
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 Belhaven.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,457 |
| 25th percentile | $6,398 |
| 75th percentile | $29,916 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,718 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Belhaven.
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 Belhaven.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 864 | $10,015 |
| Completed (graduates) | 486 | $12,000 |
| Did not complete | 378 | $8,484 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $142.69/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 Belhaven.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 765 | $10,424 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 99 | $8,700 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Belhaven.
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 Belhaven follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1123 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $18,817 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $15,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $20,241 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Belhaven.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Did You Know?
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.