by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend College of Southern Nevada, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at CSN, 12% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $3,430 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $3,360, amounting to 61.1% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at CSN, 10% borrow through federal student loan programs, for a typical $3,754 a year. That amounts to 11.7% larger than the freshman federal average of $3,360.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $7,508 over two years and about $15,016 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 10% |
| Average federal loan per year | $3,754 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,858 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $10,729,874 |
The middle borrower at CSN owes $4,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $4,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $8,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $3,551 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for CSN.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,716 |
| 25th percentile | $2,624 |
| 75th percentile | $10,988 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,982 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at CSN.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for CSN.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1430 | $11,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 186 | $8,463 |
| Did not complete | 1244 | $11,273 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $100.63/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at CSN.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1386 | $11,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 44 | $10,226 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 403 | $8,900 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 1027 | $12,400 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at CSN.
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 CSN follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1996 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $4,500 |
| Middle income | $4,067 |
| High income | $4,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,500 |
| Independent students | $4,772 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for CSN.
The Difference Between 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.