by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Homestead Schools— 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 Homestead Schools specifically, 83% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $7,439 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $7,439. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit 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 Homestead Schools, freshmen included, 60% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $10,592 per year. It comes to 42.4% more than the freshman federal average of $7,439.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $21,184 by year two and around $42,368 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 60% |
| Average federal loan per year | $10,592 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 156 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,652,379 |
The median student at Homestead Schools borrows $18,040 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,040 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,040 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Homestead Schools.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $9,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,072 |
| 75th percentile | $17,072 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,074 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Homestead Schools.
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 Homestead Schools.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 34 | $10,269 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Homestead Schools.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Homestead Schools is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 87 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,040 |
| Middle income | $18,040 |
| High income | $18,040 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,040 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,040 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $10,786 |
| Independent students | $18,040 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Homestead Schools.
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
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.