by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Eastern Connecticut State 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 ECSU, 64% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $7,747 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,385, or about 97.9% 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.
For undergraduates overall at ECSU, 55% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,446 per year. That amounts to 19.7% greater than the $5,385 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,892 over two years and about $25,784 over a four-year span. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 55% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,446 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,849 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $11,919,011 |
The middle borrower at ECSU owes $18,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $24,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,000 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at ECSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,465 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at ECSU.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for ECSU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 647 | $18,860 |
| Completed (graduates) | 352 | $21,628 |
| Did not complete | 295 | $15,230 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $257.18/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at ECSU.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 611 | $18,761 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 36 | $21,847 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at ECSU.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for ECSU appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1277 |
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 | $17,708 |
| Middle income | $18,750 |
| High income | $18,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,500 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for ECSU.
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.
Did You Know?
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.