by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend North Dakota State University-Main Campus— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At North Dakota State University specifically, 60% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $10,514 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,248, representing 95.4% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at North Dakota State University, freshmen included, 53% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $6,272 in federal loans per year. It comes to 19.5% more than the $5,248 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,544 across two years and $25,088 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 53% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,272 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 5,080 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $31,859,651 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at North Dakota State University carry a median federal debt of $16,750 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,199 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,750 |
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 North Dakota State University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,449 |
| 75th percentile | $25,749 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at North Dakota State University.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for North Dakota State University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 523 | $14,572 |
| Completed (graduates) | 298 | $14,621 |
| Did not complete | 225 | $14,284 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $173.86/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 North Dakota State University.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 451 | $14,572 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 72 | $14,509 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for North Dakota State University.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for North Dakota State University is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3027 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,100 |
| Middle income | $18,000 |
| High income | $16,750 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,747 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,293 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,750 |
| Independent students | $18,148 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for North Dakota State 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.