by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Kalamazoo 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.
For incoming students at K College, 45% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $6,893 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,025, representing 91.4% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at K College, 46% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,181 a year. That is 23.0% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,025.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,362 after two years and $24,724 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 46% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,181 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 538 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,325,535 |
The median student at K College borrows $22,810 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,810 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,077 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,834 |
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 K College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,300 |
| 75th percentile | $33,086 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,532 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at K 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 K College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 85 | $42,701 |
| Completed (graduates) | 52 | $49,500 |
| Did not complete | 33 | $22,040 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $588.61/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. K College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for K College follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 0.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 214 |
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 | $19,041 |
| Middle income | $22,500 |
| High income | $24,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $22,375 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at K College.
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.
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.