by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend College of the Holy Cross, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Holy Cross, 32% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $4,954 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,267, or about 77.6% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Holy Cross, 38% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $5,656 in federal loans per year. That is 32.6% higher than the $4,267 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,312 over two years and about $22,624 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 38% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,656 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,146 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,481,850 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Holy Cross carry a median federal debt of $25,879 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $25,879 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,704 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Holy Cross.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $8,000 |
| 25th percentile | $19,000 |
| 75th percentile | $31,919 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Holy Cross.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Holy Cross.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 174 | $39,599 |
| Completed (graduates) | 148 | $39,032 |
| Did not complete | 26 | $41,466 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $464.13/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Holy Cross.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Holy Cross follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 420 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $26,200 |
| High income | $26,976 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $24,979 |
| Continuing-generation students | $26,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Holy Cross.
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.
Did You Know?
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.