by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Wisconsin Lutheran College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At WLC, 96% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $7,562 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,980, which is 90.5% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at WLC (freshmen included), 68% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $8,660 a year. It comes to 73.9% more than the $4,980 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $17,320 across two years and $34,640 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 68% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,660 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 691 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,984,355 |
The median student at WLC borrows $19,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for WLC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,687 |
| 25th percentile | $8,250 |
| 75th percentile | $26,315 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,533 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at WLC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for WLC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 142 | $23,745 |
| Completed (graduates) | 91 | $28,443 |
| Did not complete | 51 | $12,976 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $338.22/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at WLC.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for WLC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 204 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,375 |
| Middle income | $18,500 |
| High income | $21,297 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,166 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $18,651 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for WLC.
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
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.