by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt: 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.
For incoming students at Humboldt State University, 35% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $5,937 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $4,788, or about 87.1% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at Humboldt State University, 34% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,491 a year. That amounts to 35.6% larger than the first-year federal average of $4,788.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,982 after two years and $25,964 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 34% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,491 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,891 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $12,274,267 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Humboldt State University carry a median federal debt of $14,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Humboldt State University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,300 |
| 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 Humboldt State University.
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 Humboldt State University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 424 | $17,076 |
| Completed (graduates) | 234 | $18,257 |
| Did not complete | 190 | $15,182 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $217.1/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Humboldt State University.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 410 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 375 | $17,324 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 49 | $15,168 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Humboldt State University.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Humboldt State University is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1684 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,283 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $14,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,976 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,493 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $16,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Humboldt State University.
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.