by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Berea College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Berea, 6% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $3,383 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $3,381, or about 61.5% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Berea, 8% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $3,530 per year. That is 4.4% more than the first-year federal average of $3,381.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $7,060 across two years and $14,120 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 | 8% |
| Average federal loan per year | $3,530 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 113 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $398,923 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Berea carry a median federal debt of $3,516 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $3,516 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $3,591 |
| Students who withdrew | $2,958 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Berea.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,000 |
| 25th percentile | $2,268 |
| 75th percentile | $8,279 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $16,400 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Berea.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Berea.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Berea appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 201 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Middle income | $4,478 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $3,194 |
| Continuing-generation students | $3,775 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Berea.
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.