by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Arizona State University Campus Immersion: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at ASU - Tempe, 29% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, for an average of $8,207 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,175, amounting to 94.1% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at ASU - Tempe, 27% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $6,625 a year. That amounts to 28.0% higher than the $5,175 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,250 over two years and about $26,500 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 27% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,625 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 17,434 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $115,496,420 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at ASU - Tempe carry a median federal debt of $13,610 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,610 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,132 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for ASU - Tempe.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,240 |
| 25th percentile | $6,025 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,751 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at ASU - Tempe.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at ASU - Tempe.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 14478 | $20,092 |
| Completed (graduates) | 7830 | $23,519 |
| Did not complete | 6648 | $17,358 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $279.67/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 ASU - Tempe.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 13847 | $20,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 631 | $22,000 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 11323 | $21,294 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 3155 | $17,000 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at ASU - Tempe.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for ASU - Tempe is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 12569 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,750 |
| Middle income | $13,750 |
| High income | $13,245 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,586 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,692 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,000 |
| Independent students | $16,299 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for ASU - Tempe.
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.