by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Earlham College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Earlham specifically, 55% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $9,183 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,209, equal to roughly 94.7% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. 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 Earlham (freshmen included), 45% rely on federal student loans toward their education, at an average of $5,779 each per year. This works out to 10.9% greater than the freshman federal average of $5,209.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,558 by year two and around $23,116 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 45% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,779 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 275 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,589,256 |
The middle borrower at Earlham owes $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,488 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
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 Earlham.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,371 |
| 75th percentile | $30,410 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Earlham.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Earlham.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 101 | $18,261 |
| Completed (graduates) | 61 | $23,050 |
| Did not complete | 40 | $15,148 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $274.09/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Earlham.
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 Earlham is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 241 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $21,103 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,458 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Earlham.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Worth Knowing
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.