by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Morningside University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at Morningside, 69% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $8,820 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,516. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a 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 Morningside, 66% take out federal student loans, averaging $6,687 each per year. This works out to 21.2% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,516.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,374 across two years and $26,748 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 66% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,687 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 776 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,189,483 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Morningside carry a median federal debt of $15,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,028 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,250 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Morningside.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $6,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Morningside.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Morningside.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 573 | $13,184 |
| Completed (graduates) | 251 | $14,032 |
| Did not complete | 322 | $12,418 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $166.86/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Morningside.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 306 | $16,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 267 | $10,788 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Morningside.
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 Morningside is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 450 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $11,625 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $18,374 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,875 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,950 |
| Independent students | $10,036 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Morningside.
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.
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.