by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Rider University: 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.
For incoming students at Rider, 64% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $9,895 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,270, equal to roughly 95.8% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at Rider, 59% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $6,511 a year. This works out to 23.5% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,270.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $13,022 by year two and around $26,044 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 59% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,511 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,862 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $12,124,204 |
The middle borrower at Rider owes $20,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $20,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,130 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
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 Rider.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $10,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Rider.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at Rider.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 752 | $36,777 |
| Completed (graduates) | 508 | $44,670 |
| Did not complete | 244 | $24,312 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $531.17/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Rider.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 692 | $38,294 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 60 | $24,177 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Rider.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Rider follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1410 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $20,500 |
| Middle income | $21,362 |
| High income | $20,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,899 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $20,500 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Rider.
Subsidized and 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
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.