by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Drake University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Drake, 50% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $10,101 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $5,410, amounting to 98.4% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Drake, 45% take out federal student loans, borrowing on average $6,578 per year. That is 21.6% greater than the $5,410 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,156 by year two and around $26,312 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 45% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,578 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,201 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,899,619 |
The median student at Drake borrows $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Drake.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $30,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Drake.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Drake.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 667 | $25,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 349 | $26,000 |
| Did not complete | 318 | $24,024 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $309.17/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Drake.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 649 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 18 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 560 | $27,085 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 107 | $17,274 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Drake.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Drake appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1126 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,500 |
| Middle income | $19,000 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,425 |
| Independent students | $24,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Drake.
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.
Did You Know?
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.