by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Sonoran Desert Institute, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Sonoran Desert Institute, 30% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $7,407 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $7,407. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. 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 Sonoran Desert Institute, 28% finance part of their studies with federal loans, for a typical $7,471 annually. This is 0.9% higher than the $7,407 borrowed by freshmen.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,942 over two years and about $29,884 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 28% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,471 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,323 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $9,884,411 |
The median student at Sonoran Desert Institute borrows $7,786 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,786 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
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 Sonoran Desert Institute.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,229 |
| 25th percentile | $2,509 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,360 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Sonoran Desert Institute.
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 Sonoran Desert Institute.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 117 | $9,464 |
| Completed (graduates) | 43 | $9,464 |
| Did not complete | 74 | $9,282 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $112.54/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Sonoran Desert Institute.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 40 | $7,350 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 77 | $9,976 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Sonoran Desert Institute.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,449 |
| Middle income | $8,303 |
| High income | $8,208 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,889 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,244 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,030 |
| Independent students | $8,225 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Sonoran Desert Institute.
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
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.