by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Shepherd University: 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 Shepherd University, 50% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $8,980 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $7,551. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a 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.
For undergraduates overall at Shepherd University, 48% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $8,041 annually. That is 6.5% greater than the $7,551 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $16,082 across two years and $32,164 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 48% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,041 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,141 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,174,728 |
The middle borrower at Shepherd University owes $14,297 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,297 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,600 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Shepherd University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,485 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Shepherd University.
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 Shepherd University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 432 | $16,834 |
| Completed (graduates) | 203 | $21,546 |
| Did not complete | 229 | $14,680 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $256.2/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Shepherd University.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 417 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 15 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 378 | $17,802 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 54 | $11,818 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Shepherd University.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Shepherd University is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 947 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,274 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $14,750 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Shepherd University.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.