by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Hood 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.
For incoming students at Hood, 81% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $6,568 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,159, equal to roughly 93.8% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Hood, 68% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $9,878 per year. This is 91.5% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,159.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $19,756 by year two and around $39,512 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 | 68% |
| Average federal loan per year | $9,878 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 819 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,089,868 |
The median student at Hood borrows $18,185 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,185 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,842 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Hood.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $10,250 |
| 75th percentile | $27,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,112 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Hood.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Hood.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 360 | $20,291 |
| Completed (graduates) | 208 | $23,522 |
| Did not complete | 152 | $16,283 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $279.7/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Hood.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 250 | $21,298 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 110 | $17,599 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Hood.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Hood follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 467 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,125 |
| Middle income | $17,125 |
| High income | $17,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,119 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Hood.
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
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.