by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology— 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 SD Mines, 51% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, borrowing on average $7,879 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,987, which is 90.7% 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 SD Mines, 43% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $6,106 a year. This is 22.4% above the freshman federal average of $4,987.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,212 after two years and $24,424 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 43% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,106 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 876 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $5,349,189 |
The median student at SD Mines borrows $17,306 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,306 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
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 SD Mines.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,140 |
| 75th percentile | $29,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,564 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at SD Mines.
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 SD Mines.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 258 | $20,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 135 | $23,390 |
| Did not complete | 123 | $17,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $278.13/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 SD Mines.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 226 | $19,855 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 32 | $23,265 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SD Mines.
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 SD Mines is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 458 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $18,125 |
| High income | $15,625 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,625 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,224 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,250 |
| Independent students | $27,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SD Mines.
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
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.