by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Milwaukee School of Engineering, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at MSOE, 58% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, borrowing on average $8,328 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,148, or about 93.6% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at MSOE, freshmen included, 57% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,373 in federal loans per year. That amounts to 23.8% greater than the $5,148 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,746 across two years and $25,492 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 57% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,373 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,503 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,578,487 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at MSOE carry a median federal debt of $24,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $24,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| 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 MSOE.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $30,910 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,352 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at MSOE.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at MSOE.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 258 | $25,142 |
| Completed (graduates) | 147 | $34,081 |
| Did not complete | 111 | $15,000 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $405.26/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 MSOE.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 245 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 13 | — |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. MSOE.
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 MSOE appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 684 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $24,500 |
| Middle income | $25,000 |
| High income | $24,146 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $24,628 |
| Continuing-generation students | $24,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $24,186 |
| Independent students | $25,000 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at MSOE.
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.
Did You Know?
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.