by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Minnesota State University-Mankato: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Minnesota State Mankato specifically, 59% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $10,196 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,496, amounting to 99.9% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a 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.
Counting every undergraduate at Minnesota State Mankato, 46% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $6,509 annually. It comes to 18.4% higher than the $5,496 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,018 in two years and roughly $26,036 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 46% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,509 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 5,203 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $33,865,750 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Minnesota State Mankato carry a median federal debt of $14,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,106 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Minnesota State Mankato.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Minnesota State Mankato.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Minnesota State Mankato.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1148 | $12,391 |
| Completed (graduates) | 611 | $13,695 |
| Did not complete | 537 | $10,514 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $162.85/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 Minnesota State Mankato.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 992 | $12,681 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 156 | $9,735 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Minnesota State Mankato.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Minnesota State Mankato follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3453 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,679 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $14,577 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,228 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Minnesota State Mankato.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Did You Know?
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.