by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Hampshire College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Hampshire, 67% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $6,361 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $5,122, representing 93.1% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at Hampshire, 62% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $5,797 a year. That is 13.2% more than the freshman federal average of $5,122.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,594 after two years and $23,188 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 62% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,797 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 442 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,562,418 |
The middle borrower at Hampshire owes $25,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $25,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,893 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,281 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Hampshire.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,000 |
| 25th percentile | $8,187 |
| 75th percentile | $26,749 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Hampshire.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Hampshire.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 131 | $29,380 |
| Completed (graduates) | 106 | $36,825 |
| Did not complete | 25 | $17,103 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $437.89/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Hampshire.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Hampshire appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 274 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $24,000 |
| Middle income | $26,000 |
| High income | $22,982 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $25,345 |
| Continuing-generation students | $24,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $25,000 |
| Independent students | $23,300 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Hampshire.
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.
Important to Remember
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.