by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Colby-Sawyer 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.
Among first-year students at Colby - Sawyer, 78% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $10,064 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,208, or about 94.7% 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Colby - Sawyer (freshmen included), 72% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,758 a year. That is 29.8% larger than the freshman federal average of $5,208.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,516 in two years and roughly $27,032 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 | 72% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,758 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 548 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,703,120 |
The middle borrower at Colby - Sawyer owes $19,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 Colby - Sawyer.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Colby - Sawyer.
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 Colby - Sawyer.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 169 | $27,377 |
| Completed (graduates) | 84 | $38,135 |
| Did not complete | 85 | $16,979 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $453.47/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Colby - Sawyer.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 153 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 16 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Colby - Sawyer.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Colby - Sawyer is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 263 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,750 |
| Middle income | $22,543 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,905 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Colby - Sawyer.
Subsidized and 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
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.