by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Arcadia University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at Arcadia, 76% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $10,733 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,459, or about 99.3% 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at Arcadia (freshmen included), 65% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,678 annually. This is 22.3% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,459.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $13,356 by year two and around $26,712 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 65% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,678 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,162 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,760,039 |
The median student at Arcadia borrows $21,852 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $21,852 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Arcadia.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,750 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Arcadia.
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 Arcadia.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 476 | $22,555 |
| Completed (graduates) | 314 | $29,652 |
| Did not complete | 162 | $16,705 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $352.59/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Arcadia.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 436 | $22,633 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 40 | $17,421 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Arcadia.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Arcadia appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1188 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $20,000 |
| Middle income | $21,500 |
| High income | $23,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,982 |
| Continuing-generation students | $20,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,953 |
| Independent students | $21,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Arcadia.
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.
Important to Remember
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.