by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Mississippi State University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Mississippi State, 46% of first-year students take on loan debt, averaging $7,975 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $5,382, amounting to 97.9% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Mississippi State, 39% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,678 a year. This is 24.1% greater than the $5,382 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,356 in two years and roughly $26,712 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 39% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,678 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 7,051 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $47,084,254 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Mississippi State carry a median federal debt of $16,324 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,324 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,142 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,081 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Mississippi State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,083 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Mississippi State.
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 Mississippi State.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2338 | $19,043 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1396 | $25,567 |
| Did not complete | 942 | $14,851 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $304.02/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Mississippi State.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2277 | $19,101 |
| No Stafford loan | 61 | $16,485 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2144 | $19,269 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 194 | $16,024 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Mississippi State.
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 Mississippi State appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3133 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $16,750 |
| Middle income | $15,295 |
| High income | $16,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,000 |
| Independent students | $17,780 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Mississippi State.
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.