by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Bennett College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Bennett, 67% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $7,867 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $7,867. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Across the full undergraduate body at Bennett (freshmen included), 69% rely on federal student loans toward their education, at an average of $9,201 a year. This works out to 17.0% more than the $7,867 typical freshmen borrow.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $18,402 over two years and about $36,804 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 69% |
| Average federal loan per year | $9,201 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 133 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,223,788 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Bennett carry a median federal debt of $17,351 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,351 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $28,130 |
| 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 Bennett.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $35,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $45,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Bennett.
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 Bennett.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 72 | $21,239 |
| Completed (graduates) | 26 | $30,516 |
| Did not complete | 46 | $17,674 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $362.87/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Bennett.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Bennett follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 215 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,500 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $14,125 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Bennett.
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.
Important to Remember
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.