by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Rollins College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Rollins, 42% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $8,393 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,291, amounting to 96.2% 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.
Counting every undergraduate at Rollins, 40% finance part of their studies with federal loans, for a typical $6,866 each per year. This works out to 29.8% greater than the $5,291 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,732 by year two and around $27,464 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 | 40% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,866 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,021 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,010,213 |
The median student at Rollins borrows $21,385 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,385 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Rollins.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $10,750 |
| 75th percentile | $29,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,236 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Rollins.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Rollins.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 269 | $34,022 |
| Completed (graduates) | 210 | $40,054 |
| Did not complete | 59 | $28,509 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $476.28/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Rollins.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 258 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 11 | — |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Rollins.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Rollins is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 648 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $22,500 |
| Middle income | $21,500 |
| High income | $20,238 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $21,945 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $20,500 |
| Independent students | $25,000 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Rollins.
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.
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.