by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Northwestern Health Sciences University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at NWHSU, 25% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $6,500 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $6,500. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at NWHSU, 55% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $5,577 in federal loans per year. That is 14.2% lower than the $6,500 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $11,154 over two years and about $22,308 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 55% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,577 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 137 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $764,074 |
The median student at NWHSU borrows $8,250 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $7,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,903 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at NWHSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,450 |
| 25th percentile | $5,800 |
| 75th percentile | $12,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at NWHSU.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for NWHSU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 138 | $19,620 |
| Completed (graduates) | 56 | $12,632 |
| Did not complete | 82 | $22,984 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $150.21/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 NWHSU.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 119 | $15,776 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 19 | $35,706 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at NWHSU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for NWHSU follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 278 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $5,875 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $10,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at NWHSU.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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?
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.