by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Idaho State University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At ISU specifically, 27% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $5,927 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,357, representing 97.4% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at ISU, 33% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $6,906 annually. This works out to 28.9% above the $5,357 freshmen take on.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,812 by year two and around $27,624 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 | 33% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,906 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,397 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $16,554,828 |
The median student at ISU borrows $12,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,039 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 ISU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,200 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $28,819 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $45,750 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at ISU.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at ISU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 444 | $12,059 |
| Completed (graduates) | 232 | $14,334 |
| Did not complete | 212 | $10,206 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $170.45/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at ISU.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 371 | $11,337 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 73 | $15,851 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for ISU.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for ISU appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3590 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $13,000 |
| Middle income | $12,755 |
| High income | $11,033 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,000 |
| Independent students | $14,937 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for ISU.
Subsidized vs. 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.
Did You Know?
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.