by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Bethany 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 Bethany College West Virginia, 87% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $7,782 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $6,296. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a 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 Bethany College West Virginia, 75% rely on federal student loans toward their education, borrowing on average $10,708 in federal loans per year. This works out to 70.1% greater than the $6,296 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $21,416 after two years and $42,832 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 75% |
| Average federal loan per year | $10,708 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 482 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,161,132 |
The median student at Bethany College West Virginia borrows $23,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $23,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| 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.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Bethany College West Virginia.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $33,800 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $43,630 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Bethany College West Virginia.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Bethany College West Virginia.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 143 | $19,239 |
| Completed (graduates) | 63 | $31,190 |
| Did not complete | 80 | $11,714 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $370.88/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Bethany College West Virginia.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Bethany College West Virginia appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 279 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,250 |
| Middle income | $25,283 |
| High income | $25,125 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $25,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,167 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $23,750 |
| Independent students | $23,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Bethany College West Virginia.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Worth Knowing
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.