by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Colorado College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Colorado College, 45% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $6,269 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,833, which is 87.9% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Colorado College, 26% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $5,757 annually. It comes to 19.1% above the $4,833 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,514 after two years and $23,028 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 26% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,757 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 552 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,177,879 |
The median student at Colorado College borrows $13,400 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,400 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,257 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,045 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Colorado College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $24,418 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $28,591 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Colorado College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Colorado College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 60 | $35,663 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Colorado College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Colorado College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 200 |
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 | $10,474 |
| Middle income | $14,026 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,727 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Colorado College.
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?
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.