by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Buena Vista University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At BVU specifically, 73% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $7,884 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,533. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at BVU (freshmen included), 70% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $7,101 per year. That amounts to 28.3% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,533.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $14,202 after two years and $28,404 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,101 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 960 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,817,045 |
The median student at BVU borrows $17,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,517 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for BVU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,607 |
| 75th percentile | $26,522 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,725 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at BVU.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for BVU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 301 | $11,500 |
| Completed (graduates) | 159 | $12,074 |
| Did not complete | 142 | $10,461 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $143.57/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at BVU.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 266 | $11,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 35 | $11,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. BVU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for BVU follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1159 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,250 |
| Middle income | $18,723 |
| High income | $18,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,700 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,011 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,439 |
| Independent students | $18,728 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for BVU.
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
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.