by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend College of Wilmington: 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.
At College of Wilmington specifically, 73% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $6,072 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $6,072. 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.
Counting every undergraduate at College of Wilmington, 47% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,253 annually. This works out to 3.0% more than the first-year federal average of $6,072.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,506 by year two and around $25,012 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 47% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,253 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 111 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $694,128 |
The median student at College of Wilmington borrows $6,228 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,228 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,423 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,905 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for College of Wilmington.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,040 |
| 25th percentile | $4,419 |
| 75th percentile | $9,834 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $14,640 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at College of Wilmington.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. College of Wilmington.
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 College of Wilmington follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 24.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 69 |
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 | $4,917 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,675 |
| Independent students | $5,187 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for College of Wilmington.
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
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.