by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend La Sierra University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At La Sierra specifically, 58% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $5,159 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,159, representing 93.8% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year 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 La Sierra, 62% finance part of their studies with federal loans, borrowing on average $6,408 each per year. That amounts to 24.2% greater than the $5,159 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,816 over two years and about $25,632 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 62% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,408 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 714 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,575,210 |
The median student at La Sierra borrows $18,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,349 |
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 La Sierra.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,668 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $31,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $42,666 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at La Sierra.
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 La Sierra.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 425 | $20,289 |
| Completed (graduates) | 218 | $24,058 |
| Did not complete | 207 | $17,131 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $286.08/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 La Sierra.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 401 | $20,683 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 24 | $15,528 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. La Sierra.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for La Sierra is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 542 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $22,404 |
| Middle income | $19,629 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,463 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,042 |
| Independent students | $24,781 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at La Sierra.
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.
Worth Knowing
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.