by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Blackburn College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Blackburn, 68% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, averaging $5,495 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federal loan is $5,495, or about 99.9% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. 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 Blackburn, freshmen included, 67% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $6,105 in federal loans per year. This is 11.1% greater than the $5,495 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,210 over two years and about $24,420 over four years. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 67% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,105 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 234 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,428,656 |
The median student at Blackburn borrows $14,770 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,770 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $24,242 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,600 |
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 Blackburn.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,007 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,328 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Blackburn.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Blackburn.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 58 | $15,188 |
| Completed (graduates) | 24 | $22,107 |
| Did not complete | 34 | $13,255 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $262.88/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Blackburn.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Blackburn follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 244 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,546 |
| Middle income | $13,600 |
| High income | $18,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $12,988 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Blackburn.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Worth Knowing
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.