by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Salisbury 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.
Among first-year students at Salisbury, 44% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $7,978 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,061, amounting to 92.0% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 Salisbury (freshmen included), 40% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $6,216 each per year. This works out to 22.8% greater than the $5,061 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,432 across two years and $24,864 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 40% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,216 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,445 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $15,196,914 |
The middle borrower at Salisbury owes $15,750 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,706 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Salisbury.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,750 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Salisbury.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Salisbury.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1784 | $25,839 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1070 | $33,815 |
| Did not complete | 714 | $18,446 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $402.1/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Salisbury.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1704 | $26,453 |
| No Stafford loan | 80 | $16,025 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1589 | $26,807 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 195 | $19,103 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Salisbury.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Salisbury appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1457 |
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 | $16,564 |
| Middle income | $15,289 |
| High income | $16,063 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,360 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,500 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Salisbury.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.