by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Plymouth State University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Plymouth State, 71% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $9,553 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,353, equal to roughly 97.3% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Looking at all undergraduates at Plymouth State, freshmen included, 70% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,333 per year. That amounts to 18.3% higher than the $5,353 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,666 by year two and around $25,332 by the fourth year. 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 | $6,333 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,306 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $14,604,188 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Plymouth State carry a median federal debt of $17,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
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 Plymouth State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,624 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Plymouth State.
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 Plymouth State.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 892 | $20,018 |
| Completed (graduates) | 415 | $27,431 |
| Did not complete | 477 | $16,631 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $326.18/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Plymouth State.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 811 | $20,802 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 81 | $15,478 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Plymouth State.
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 Plymouth State is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1429 |
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 | $16,260 |
| Middle income | $16,803 |
| High income | $17,750 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,125 |
| Independent students | $14,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Plymouth State.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.