by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Guilford College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Guilford specifically, 65% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $7,377 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,408, which is 98.3% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Looking at all undergraduates at Guilford, freshmen included, 58% rely on federal student loans toward their education, for a typical $6,209 each per year. This is 14.8% above the first-year federal average of $5,408.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,418 after two years and $24,836 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 58% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,209 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 588 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,650,789 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Guilford carry a median federal debt of $15,448 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,448 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Guilford.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,466 |
| 25th percentile | $5,751 |
| 75th percentile | $28,910 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $41,605 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Guilford.
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 Guilford.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 251 | $24,710 |
| Completed (graduates) | 127 | $37,100 |
| Did not complete | 124 | $17,166 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $441.16/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Guilford.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 239 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 12 | — |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Guilford.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Guilford follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 823 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $14,359 |
| Middle income | $16,882 |
| High income | $15,825 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,248 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,825 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $23,850 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Guilford.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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?
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.