by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Oklahoma State University-Main Campus, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at OSU, 45% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $8,128 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,413, which is 98.4% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at OSU, 38% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,527 annually. This is 20.6% larger than the first-year federal average of $5,413.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,054 across two years and $26,108 after four. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 38% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,527 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 7,928 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $51,743,106 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at OSU carry a median federal debt of $15,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
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 OSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at OSU.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for OSU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 3161 | $29,760 |
| Completed (graduates) | 2013 | $38,513 |
| Did not complete | 1148 | $20,422 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $457.96/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 OSU.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 3004 | $30,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 157 | $23,000 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2822 | $31,052 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 339 | $19,773 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at OSU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for OSU is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3728 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $15,250 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $16,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,269 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,574 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at OSU.
The Difference Between 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.
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.