by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Massachusetts Institute of Technology: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at MIT, 8% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $11,176 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,936, or about 89.7% 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.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at MIT, 7% rely on federal student loans toward their education, at an average of $5,882 in federal loans per year. That amounts to 19.2% more than the first-year federal average of $4,936.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,764 across two years and $23,528 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 | 7% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,882 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 306 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,799,792 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at MIT carry a median federal debt of $12,462 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,462 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $14,768 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,490 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for MIT.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,000 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,091 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at MIT.
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 MIT.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 283 | $37,500 |
| Completed (graduates) | 225 | $42,501 |
| Did not complete | 58 | $24,939 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $505.38/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 MIT.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 244 | $36,634 |
| No Stafford loan | 39 | $46,223 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 143 | $44,805 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 140 | $31,056 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. MIT.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for MIT appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 791 |
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 | $6,500 |
| Middle income | $9,950 |
| High income | $13,837 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for MIT.
The Difference Between 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.