by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Salem College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Salem, 56% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $6,310 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federal loan is $5,235, which is 95.2% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at Salem, 50% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,106 annually. That amounts to 16.6% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,235.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,212 across two years and $24,424 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 50% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,106 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 193 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,178,453 |
The middle borrower at Salem owes $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,649 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,741 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Salem.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,200 |
| 25th percentile | $9,450 |
| 75th percentile | $29,230 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $41,082 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Salem.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Salem.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 108 | $11,930 |
| Completed (graduates) | 65 | $13,000 |
| Did not complete | 43 | $10,933 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $154.58/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Salem.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 98 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 10 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Salem.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Salem follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 302 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $16,849 |
| Middle income | $20,215 |
| High income | $20,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,397 |
| Independent students | $22,512 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Salem.
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
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.