by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Wilmington University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Wilmington University, 54% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $3,764 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $3,240, representing 58.9% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at Wilmington University (freshmen included), 50% take out federal student loans, at an average of $5,762 per year. That amounts to 77.8% higher than the $3,240 borrowed by freshmen.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,524 across two years and $23,048 by the fourth year. 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 | $5,762 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,270 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $24,602,555 |
The middle borrower at Wilmington University owes $14,308 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,308 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Wilmington University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,166 |
| 25th percentile | $6,166 |
| 75th percentile | $24,832 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,389 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Wilmington University.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Wilmington University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2250 | $16,372 |
| Completed (graduates) | 578 | $16,732 |
| Did not complete | 1672 | $16,029 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $198.96/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 Wilmington University.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2222 | $16,395 |
| No Stafford loan | 28 | $12,282 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1176 | $14,280 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1074 | $18,500 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Wilmington University.
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 Wilmington University appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2483 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,860 |
| Middle income | $14,219 |
| High income | $13,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,667 |
| Independent students | $15,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Wilmington University.
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.