by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online: 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.
At GSC, 56% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $3,709 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $3,709, equal to roughly 67.4% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. 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 GSC, freshmen included, 36% take out federal student loans, for a typical $5,277 a year. It comes to 42.3% higher than the freshman federal average of $3,709.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $10,554 across two years and $21,108 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 36% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,277 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 364 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,920,846 |
The median student at GSC borrows $22,498 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,498 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,814 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for GSC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at GSC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for GSC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1648 | $30,725 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1106 | $36,545 |
| Did not complete | 542 | $24,555 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $434.56/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 GSC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1637 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 11 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1451 | $32,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 197 | $20,000 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. GSC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for GSC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3729 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
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 | $22,704 |
| Middle income | $22,997 |
| High income | $21,801 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,580 |
| Continuing-generation students | $22,125 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $22,542 |
| Independent students | $20,200 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at GSC.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.