by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Princeton University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Princeton, 5% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $9,046 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $4,938, equal to roughly 89.8% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at Princeton, 2% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $6,140 annually. That amounts to 24.3% above the freshman federal average of $4,938.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,280 over two years and about $24,560 over four years. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 2% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,140 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 112 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $687,690 |
The middle borrower at Princeton owes $10,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $10,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,320 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Princeton.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,500 |
| 25th percentile | $3,045 |
| 75th percentile | $16,094 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Princeton.
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 Princeton.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 114 | $38,170 |
| Completed (graduates) | 79 | $41,000 |
| Did not complete | 35 | $30,560 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $487.53/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Princeton.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 84 | $30,530 |
| No Stafford loan | 30 | $65,521 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 29 | $30,560 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 85 | $40,978 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Princeton.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Princeton is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 126 |
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 | $5,500 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,834 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Princeton.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.