by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Ohio University-Main Campus: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At OHIO Athens specifically, 60% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $8,285 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,227, amounting to 95.0% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Across the full undergraduate body at OHIO Athens (freshmen included), 49% finance part of their studies with federal loans, for a typical $6,248 annually. This is 19.5% higher than the $5,227 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,496 after two years and $24,992 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 49% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,248 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 9,079 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $56,724,339 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at OHIO Athens carry a median federal debt of $15,332 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,332 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,056 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,750 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 OHIO Athens.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,806 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,250 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at OHIO Athens.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at OHIO Athens.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 4390 | $20,697 |
| Completed (graduates) | 2974 | $23,508 |
| Did not complete | 1416 | $16,316 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $279.54/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 OHIO Athens.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 4346 | $20,731 |
| No Stafford loan | 44 | $18,000 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 3682 | $22,419 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 708 | $14,276 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. OHIO Athens.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for OHIO Athens appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 10.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 7724 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,500 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $16,950 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,928 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,000 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for OHIO Athens.
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.
Did You Know?
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.