by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend New College of Florida, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At New College, 21% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $4,761 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,529, equal to roughly 82.3% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
For undergraduates overall at New College, 19% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $5,258 each per year. This is 16.1% above the freshman federal average of $4,529.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $10,516 over two years and about $21,032 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 19% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,258 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 134 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $704,553 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at New College carry a median federal debt of $12,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $17,375 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,251 |
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 New College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $18,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at New 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 New College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 32 | $17,666 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at New College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for New College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 93 |
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 | $11,383 |
| Middle income | $13,191 |
| High income | $12,153 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,552 |
| Continuing-generation students | $10,269 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at New College.
The Difference Between 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?
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.