by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend CUNY Lehman College: 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.
At Lehman, 3% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $5,044 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,659, equal to roughly 84.7% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at Lehman, freshmen included, 13% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,416 a year. It comes to 37.7% more than the first-year federal average of $4,659.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,832 by year two and around $25,664 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 13% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,416 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,308 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,392,076 |
The middle borrower at Lehman owes $8,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,950 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Lehman.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,400 |
| 75th percentile | $15,020 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $24,593 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Lehman.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Lehman.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 785 | $10,603 |
| Completed (graduates) | 426 | $11,955 |
| Did not complete | 359 | $9,720 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $142.16/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 Lehman.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 313 | $9,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 472 | $11,541 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Lehman.
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 Lehman follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1226 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,756 |
| Middle income | $9,630 |
| High income | $11,287 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,795 |
| Independent students | $10,029 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Lehman.
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.
Worth Knowing
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.