by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Mount St. Joseph University: 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.
Among first-year students at Mount St. Joe, 72% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $7,544 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,823. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Across the full undergraduate body at Mount St. Joe (freshmen included), 71% take out federal student loans, at an average of $7,199 a year. That is 23.6% above the $5,823 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,398 over two years and about $28,796 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 71% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,199 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 790 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,687,017 |
The middle borrower at Mount St. Joe owes $18,837 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,837 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,827 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Mount St. Joe.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,469 |
| 25th percentile | $8,121 |
| 75th percentile | $29,875 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $41,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Mount St. Joe.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Mount St. Joe.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 364 | $22,373 |
| Completed (graduates) | 230 | $27,644 |
| Did not complete | 134 | $16,222 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $328.72/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Mount St. Joe.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 324 | $24,132 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 40 | $12,264 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Mount St. Joe.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Mount St. Joe appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 713 |
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 | $21,929 |
| Middle income | $18,750 |
| High income | $17,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,968 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,250 |
| Independent students | $23,174 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Mount St. Joe.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.