by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at FDU, 59% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, averaging $10,250 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,385, or about 97.9% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at FDU, 56% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,493 a year. That is 20.6% larger than the $5,385 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,986 after two years and $25,972 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 56% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,493 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,091 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,084,142 |
The median student at FDU borrows $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
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 FDU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $8,250 |
| 75th percentile | $28,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at FDU.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at FDU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 966 | $26,961 |
| Completed (graduates) | 597 | $30,444 |
| Did not complete | 369 | $21,292 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $362.01/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at FDU.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 825 | $28,366 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 141 | $17,950 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for FDU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for FDU follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2150 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,000 |
| Independent students | $22,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at FDU.
The Difference Between 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.