by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Black Hills State University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at BHSU, 55% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $6,920 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,985, amounting to 90.6% 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.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at BHSU, 47% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,035 a year. That amounts to 21.1% higher than the first-year federal average of $4,985.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,070 after two years and $24,140 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 | 47% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,035 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 905 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,461,823 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at BHSU carry a median federal debt of $15,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
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 BHSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,125 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,530 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at BHSU.
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 BHSU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 262 | $10,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 76 | $11,908 |
| Did not complete | 186 | $10,000 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $141.6/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 BHSU.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 234 | $10,110 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 28 | $8,531 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at BHSU.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for BHSU is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1212 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $16,148 |
| Middle income | $16,000 |
| High income | $13,499 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,940 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,750 |
| Independent students | $19,000 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at BHSU.
Subsidized vs. 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
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.