by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Whitworth University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Whitworth, 61% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $7,358 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,652. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Whitworth, 56% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $6,662 each per year. That amounts to 17.9% larger than the $5,652 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,324 by year two and around $26,648 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 56% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,662 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,080 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,195,100 |
The median student at Whitworth borrows $18,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| 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 Whitworth.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,883 |
| 75th percentile | $28,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,250 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Whitworth.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Whitworth.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 347 | $26,250 |
| Completed (graduates) | 214 | $35,875 |
| Did not complete | 133 | $17,841 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $426.59/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Whitworth.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 317 | $27,093 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 30 | $14,533 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Whitworth.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Whitworth is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 633 |
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 | $19,724 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $15,750 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,915 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,750 |
| Independent students | $25,403 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Whitworth.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.