by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Colorado Mesa 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 Colorado Mesa, 40% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $6,133 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federal loan is $5,025, amounting to 91.4% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at Colorado Mesa, 35% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,374 per year. This is 26.8% higher than the freshman federal average of $5,025.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,748 after two years and $25,496 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 35% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,374 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,688 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $17,132,390 |
The middle borrower at Colorado Mesa owes $11,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Colorado Mesa.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,140 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Colorado Mesa.
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 Colorado Mesa.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1443 | $14,880 |
| Completed (graduates) | 507 | $18,879 |
| Did not complete | 936 | $13,132 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $224.49/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Colorado Mesa.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1392 | $15,101 |
| No Stafford loan | 51 | $9,000 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1324 | $15,101 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 119 | $12,157 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Colorado Mesa.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Colorado Mesa follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2041 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,000 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $10,950 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,042 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $10,750 |
| Independent students | $14,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Colorado Mesa.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.
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.