by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Trinity College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Trinity Bantams, 37% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $9,652 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $4,489, representing 81.6% 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.
Counting every undergraduate at Trinity Bantams, 38% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $6,040 in federal loans per year. It comes to 34.6% larger than the $4,489 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,080 by year two and around $24,160 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 38% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,040 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 844 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,097,407 |
The median student at Trinity Bantams borrows $21,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Trinity Bantams.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $8,250 |
| 75th percentile | $26,192 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,114 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Trinity Bantams.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Trinity Bantams.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 118 | $53,524 |
| Completed (graduates) | 96 | $60,796 |
| Did not complete | 22 | $28,949 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $722.93/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 Trinity Bantams.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 107 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 11 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 99 | $53,778 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 19 | $51,300 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Trinity Bantams.
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 Trinity Bantams appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 273 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,000 |
| Independent students | $17,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Trinity Bantams.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Worth Knowing
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.