by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Franklin and Marshall College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at Franklin and Marshall, 48% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $7,684 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,187, or about 94.3% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at Franklin and Marshall, 45% finance part of their studies with federal loans, borrowing on average $6,399 per year. That amounts to 23.4% above the freshman federal average of $5,187.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,798 across two years and $25,596 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 45% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,399 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 850 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,438,960 |
The median student at Franklin and Marshall borrows $19,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Franklin and Marshall.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $25,786 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $28,178 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Franklin and Marshall.
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 Franklin and Marshall.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 125 | $45,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 91 | $51,114 |
| Did not complete | 34 | $29,835 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $607.8/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Franklin and Marshall.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Franklin and Marshall is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 260 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $19,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,000 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Franklin and Marshall.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Important to Remember
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.