by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At MBTS, 46% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $5,191 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $5,164, or about 93.9% 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.
For undergraduates overall at MBTS, 33% take out federal student loans, borrowing on average $7,307 per year. That is 41.5% higher than the first-year federal average of $5,164.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $14,614 over two years and about $29,228 after four. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 33% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,307 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 257 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,877,976 |
The median student at MBTS borrows $9,995 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,995 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,675 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,000 |
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 MBTS.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $16,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at MBTS.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at MBTS.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 153 | $10,530 |
| Completed (graduates) | 70 | $10,162 |
| Did not complete | 83 | $11,291 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $120.84/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at MBTS.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 70 | $9,850 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 83 | $11,615 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for MBTS.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for MBTS follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 98 |
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 | $10,125 |
| Middle income | $11,000 |
| High income | $7,375 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,750 |
| Independent students | $10,875 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for MBTS.
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
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.