by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Iowa School of Beauty-Sioux City, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At ISB specifically, 77% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $7,718 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $7,718. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. 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 ISB (freshmen included), 60% take out federal student loans, averaging $8,664 each per year. That amounts to 12.3% larger than the first-year federal average of $7,718.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $17,328 in two years and roughly $34,656 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 60% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,664 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 43 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $372,551 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at ISB carry a median federal debt of $9,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,389 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for ISB.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for ISB follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 34 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,750 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
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.
Worth Knowing
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.