by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Illinois College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Illinois College, 91% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $6,971 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federal loan is $5,557. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a 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.
For undergraduates overall at Illinois College, 87% take out federal student loans, borrowing on average $6,589 annually. This is 18.6% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,557.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,178 in two years and roughly $26,356 after four. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 87% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,589 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 791 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,211,749 |
The middle borrower at Illinois College owes $14,746 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,746 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,565 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,274 |
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 Illinois College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,068 |
| 25th percentile | $9,022 |
| 75th percentile | $28,950 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,300 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Illinois College.
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 Illinois College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 163 | $17,737 |
| Completed (graduates) | 100 | $22,975 |
| Did not complete | 63 | $9,115 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $273.2/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Illinois College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Illinois College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 292 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,500 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $18,838 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,490 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,000 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Illinois College.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.
Worth Knowing
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.