by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Willamette University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at Willamette, 45% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $6,992 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,121, equal to roughly 93.1% 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 Willamette, 41% take out federal student loans, for a typical $5,817 a year. It comes to 13.6% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,121.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,634 after two years and $23,268 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 | 41% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,817 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 618 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,594,696 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Willamette carry a median federal debt of $18,913 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,913 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,277 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Willamette.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $29,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Willamette.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Willamette.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 225 | $33,457 |
| Completed (graduates) | 164 | $36,571 |
| Did not complete | 61 | $31,500 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $434.87/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 Willamette.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 215 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 10 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Willamette.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Willamette follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 657 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $17,959 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $18,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,352 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,000 |
| Independent students | $11,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Willamette.
Subsidized and 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.
Did You Know?
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.