by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Lebanon Valley 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.
At LVC specifically, 71% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $10,634 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,326, or about 96.8% 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.
Counting every undergraduate at LVC, 71% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,497 a year. This is 22.0% larger than the $5,326 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,994 in two years and roughly $25,988 over a four-year span. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 71% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,497 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,181 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,672,513 |
The median student at LVC borrows $21,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,450 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for LVC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $8,750 |
| 75th percentile | $28,473 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at LVC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for LVC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 345 | $29,330 |
| Completed (graduates) | 192 | $42,888 |
| Did not complete | 153 | $18,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $509.98/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at LVC.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 311 | $32,250 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 34 | $17,555 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. LVC.
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 LVC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 476 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,464 |
| Middle income | $21,500 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $21,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,998 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,370 |
| Independent students | $11,129 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for LVC.
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
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.