by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Haverford College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Haverford, 9% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, borrowing on average $13,514 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,752, representing 86.4% 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Haverford (freshmen included), 9% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $5,609 each per year. It comes to 18.0% above the $4,752 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,218 by year two and around $22,436 over four years. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 9% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,609 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 130 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $729,111 |
The median student at Haverford borrows $12,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,621 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Haverford.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,525 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $20,153 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Haverford.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Haverford.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 43 | $40,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Haverford.
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 Haverford appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 119 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $3,506 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $13,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,255 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Haverford.
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?
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.