by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Louisiana State University-Alexandria: 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 Louisiana State University - Alexandria, 45% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,683 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,696. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at Louisiana State University - Alexandria, freshmen included, 44% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $7,753 per year. It comes to 36.1% above the $5,696 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $15,506 across two years and $31,012 over a four-year span. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 44% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,753 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,940 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $15,040,196 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Louisiana State University - Alexandria carry a median federal debt of $10,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $10,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,173 |
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 Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,080 |
| 25th percentile | $4,028 |
| 75th percentile | $17,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,911 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
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 Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 241 | $10,168 |
| Completed (graduates) | 80 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 161 | $10,782 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $118.91/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 Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 189 | $10,025 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 52 | $11,269 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
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 Louisiana State University - Alexandria follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 645 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
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 | $9,840 |
| Middle income | $11,781 |
| High income | $10,357 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,975 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,173 |
| Independent students | $12,886 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.