by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Florida Southern 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.
Looking at the entering class at Florida Southern, 61% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $8,999 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $5,499, representing 100.0% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Florida Southern, 54% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,690 in federal loans per year. That is 21.7% above the $5,499 typical freshmen borrow.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $13,380 across two years and $26,760 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 54% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,690 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,405 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,398,863 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Florida Southern carry a median federal debt of $19,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Florida Southern.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,200 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Florida Southern.
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 Florida Southern.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 634 | $20,821 |
| Completed (graduates) | 339 | $33,294 |
| Did not complete | 295 | $14,500 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $395.9/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 Florida Southern.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 613 | $21,279 |
| No Stafford loan | 21 | $14,000 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 446 | $25,782 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 188 | $13,280 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Florida Southern.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Florida Southern is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 538 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $17,875 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Florida Southern.
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
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.