by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Luther College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Luther, 64% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $8,290 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,379, equal to roughly 97.8% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Luther, 65% rely on federal student loans toward their education, for a typical $6,613 per year. This works out to 22.9% higher than the $5,379 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,226 in two years and roughly $26,452 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 65% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,613 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 947 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,262,850 |
The middle borrower at Luther owes $22,200 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,200 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,557 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Luther.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,750 |
| 75th percentile | $30,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,857 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Luther.
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 Luther.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 129 | $33,698 |
| Completed (graduates) | 89 | $40,923 |
| Did not complete | 40 | $17,772 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $486.62/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Luther.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Luther appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 550 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $22,000 |
| Middle income | $21,875 |
| High income | $22,225 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Luther.
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.
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.