by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Carlow University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Carlow, 79% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $8,720 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,810. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at Carlow (freshmen included), 70% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $7,728 annually. This is 33.0% higher than the freshman federal average of $5,810.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $15,456 after two years and $30,912 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,728 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 931 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,195,203 |
The median student at Carlow borrows $21,513 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,513 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Carlow.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,441 |
| 25th percentile | $9,250 |
| 75th percentile | $30,264 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $41,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Carlow.
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 Carlow.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 396 | $17,208 |
| Completed (graduates) | 273 | $19,684 |
| Did not complete | 123 | $14,443 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $234.06/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Carlow.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 367 | $17,395 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 29 | $15,791 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Carlow.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Carlow appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 780 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $23,194 |
| Middle income | $21,583 |
| High income | $19,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,353 |
| Independent students | $22,230 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Carlow.
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.
Did You Know?
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.