by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Arkansas State University-Newport— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At ASUN specifically, 15% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $3,454 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $3,454, amounting to 62.8% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at ASUN, 29% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $4,540 a year. This works out to 31.4% above the $3,454 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $9,080 over two years and about $18,160 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 29% |
| Average federal loan per year | $4,540 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 363 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,647,839 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at ASUN carry a median federal debt of $5,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $5,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,002 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,250 |
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 ASUN.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,915 |
| 75th percentile | $8,900 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,688 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at ASUN.
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 ASUN.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 409 | $11,506 |
| Completed (graduates) | 51 | $7,500 |
| Did not complete | 358 | $12,250 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $89.18/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at ASUN.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 30 | $7,217 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 379 | $12,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. ASUN.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,515 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,972 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $8,924 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at ASUN.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Important to Remember
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.