by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Eastern University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At EU specifically, 72% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $9,260 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,752. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at EU, freshmen included, 60% rely on federal student loans toward their education, at an average of $6,935 in federal loans per year. That amounts to 20.6% greater than the $5,752 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,870 after two years and $27,740 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 60% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,935 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,184 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,211,623 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at EU carry a median federal debt of $18,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,482 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for EU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,344 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $28,125 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,200 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at EU.
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 EU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 521 | $15,247 |
| Completed (graduates) | 227 | $17,070 |
| Did not complete | 294 | $14,925 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $202.98/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 EU.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 430 | $15,373 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 91 | $15,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. EU.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for EU is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1222 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,782 |
| Middle income | $17,125 |
| High income | $17,188 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,464 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for EU.
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
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.