by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Messenger 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 Messenger College, 100% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $4,815 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $4,815, or about 87.5% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Messenger College, 96% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $7,641 each per year. That amounts to 58.7% greater than the $4,815 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,282 across two years and $30,564 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 96% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,641 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 26 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $198,676 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Messenger College carry a median federal debt of $27,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $27,000 |
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Messenger College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $22,500 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Messenger College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Messenger College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 24 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Important to Remember
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.