by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Benedict College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Benedict College, 81% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $6,881 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $6,791. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at Benedict College, 68% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $7,345 annually. This is 8.2% larger than the $6,791 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $14,690 in two years and roughly $29,380 over a four-year span. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 68% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,345 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,073 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,881,406 |
The middle borrower at Benedict College owes $16,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $32,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
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 Benedict College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,750 |
| 75th percentile | $37,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $49,250 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Benedict College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Benedict College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 568 | $18,319 |
| Completed (graduates) | 181 | $27,557 |
| Did not complete | 387 | $15,200 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $327.68/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Benedict College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Benedict College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 26.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1246 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,750 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $11,250 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,367 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,558 |
| Independent students | $19,334 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Benedict College.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.