by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Misericordia University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Misericordia University, 82% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $10,649 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $5,495, or about 99.9% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Misericordia University, 76% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $8,052 in federal loans per year. This works out to 46.5% above the $5,495 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $16,104 in two years and roughly $32,208 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 | 76% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,052 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,239 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,976,153 |
The middle borrower at Misericordia University owes $24,854 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $24,854 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,973 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,335 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Misericordia University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,058 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $28,731 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Misericordia University.
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 Misericordia University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 450 | $27,824 |
| Completed (graduates) | 324 | $34,345 |
| Did not complete | 126 | $17,491 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $408.4/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Misericordia University.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 398 | $30,147 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 52 | $14,691 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Misericordia University.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Misericordia University is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 671 |
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 | $23,284 |
| Middle income | $25,000 |
| High income | $24,845 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $25,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $24,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $25,000 |
| Independent students | $22,239 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Misericordia University.
Subsidized vs. 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.