by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science: 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.
Looking at the entering class at CDU, 50% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $5,875 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,875. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at CDU (freshmen included), 65% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $10,507 each per year. That amounts to 78.8% more than the freshman federal average of $5,875.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $21,014 by year two and around $42,028 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 65% |
| Average federal loan per year | $10,507 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 153 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,607,639 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at CDU carry a median federal debt of $14,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,875 |
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 CDU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,278 |
| 25th percentile | $10,250 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at CDU.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at CDU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 131 | $22,720 |
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at CDU.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 119 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 12 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at CDU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for CDU follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 145 |
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 | $16,902 |
| Middle income | $15,010 |
| High income | $11,250 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,794 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,500 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at CDU.
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.