by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Lincoln University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At LU Missouri, 53% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $7,731 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $7,798. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at LU Missouri, 55% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $7,897 annually. That is 1.3% larger than the $7,798 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,794 in two years and roughly $31,588 by the fourth year. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 55% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,897 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 746 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,890,826 |
The median student at LU Missouri borrows $19,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $28,875 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at LU Missouri.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,050 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $23,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $41,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at LU Missouri.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at LU Missouri.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 159 | $11,537 |
| Completed (graduates) | 77 | $14,000 |
| Did not complete | 82 | $9,370 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $166.47/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at LU Missouri.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 144 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 15 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at LU Missouri.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for LU Missouri follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 17.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1004 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $21,000 |
| Middle income | $14,868 |
| High income | $20,250 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,350 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,557 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,750 |
| Independent students | $21,938 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at LU Missouri.
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.
Important to Remember
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.