by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Nazareth University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at Nazareth, 70% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $11,287 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,124, amounting to 93.2% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at Nazareth, 70% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $6,528 in federal loans per year. This works out to 27.4% higher than the $5,124 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,056 over two years and about $26,112 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 | 70% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,528 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,326 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $8,656,625 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Nazareth carry a median federal debt of $22,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,038 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Nazareth.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,250 |
| 25th percentile | $9,167 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Nazareth.
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 Nazareth.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 532 | $36,275 |
| Completed (graduates) | 409 | $42,000 |
| Did not complete | 123 | $25,638 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $499.42/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 Nazareth.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 507 | $38,500 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 25 | $23,365 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Nazareth.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Nazareth appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1046 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $21,500 |
| Middle income | $20,767 |
| High income | $23,250 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $21,313 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,500 |
| Independent students | $25,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Nazareth.
Subsidized vs. 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
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.