by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Randolph-Macon College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Randolph - Macon, 62% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $9,542 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,435, or about 98.8% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 Randolph - Macon, 58% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $6,480 a year. This is 19.2% above the $5,435 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,960 by year two and around $25,920 over four years. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 58% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,480 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 860 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,573,216 |
The median student at Randolph - Macon borrows $22,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,223 |
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 Randolph - Macon.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,250 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Randolph - Macon.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Randolph - Macon.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 229 | $37,614 |
| Completed (graduates) | 167 | $46,254 |
| Did not complete | 62 | $24,163 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $550.01/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Randolph - Macon.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Randolph - Macon follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 261 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $24,270 |
| Middle income | $23,500 |
| High income | $20,750 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,976 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $22,281 |
| Independent students | $25,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Randolph - Macon.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Did You Know?
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.