by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Shorter University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Shorter, 62% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $6,275 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $5,646. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at Shorter, 59% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $6,809 each per year. That amounts to 20.6% more than the freshman federal average of $5,646.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,618 after two years and $27,236 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 | 59% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,809 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 641 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,364,743 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Shorter carry a median federal debt of $12,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,401 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Shorter.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,624 |
| 75th percentile | $32,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $47,750 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Shorter.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Shorter.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 292 | $12,293 |
| Completed (graduates) | 132 | $16,793 |
| Did not complete | 160 | $10,228 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $199.69/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 Shorter.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 280 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 12 | — |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Shorter.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Shorter follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1195 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,250 |
| Middle income | $12,500 |
| High income | $12,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $10,290 |
| Independent students | $21,689 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Shorter.
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.