by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Cornerstone University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at Cornerstone, 57% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $7,772 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,897. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. 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 Cornerstone (freshmen included), 52% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $7,379 annually. This is 25.1% more than the $5,897 borrowed by freshmen.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $14,758 across two years and $29,516 after four. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 52% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,379 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 755 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,571,492 |
The median student at Cornerstone borrows $18,634 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,634 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Cornerstone.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,656 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Cornerstone.
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 Cornerstone.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 219 | $15,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 113 | $18,141 |
| Did not complete | 106 | $13,500 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $215.72/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 Cornerstone.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 191 | $16,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 28 | $12,388 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Cornerstone.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Cornerstone appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 895 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
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 | $14,850 |
| Middle income | $18,873 |
| High income | $19,753 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,532 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,750 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,280 |
| Independent students | $17,063 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Cornerstone.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Important to Remember
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.