by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend South University-Savannah Online: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at South University’s online programs, 91% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $7,948 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $7,948. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit 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.
Looking at all undergraduates at South University’s online programs, freshmen included, 73% take out federal student loans, at an average of $8,266 per year. It comes to 4.0% more than the $7,948 freshmen take on.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $16,532 across two years and $33,064 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 73% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,266 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,758 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $39,327,842 |
The middle borrower at South University’s online programs owes $13,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,123 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for South University’s online programs.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,501 |
| 25th percentile | $4,750 |
| 75th percentile | $22,542 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at South University’s online programs.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for South University’s online programs.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1565 | $9,598 |
| Completed (graduates) | 743 | $10,629 |
| Did not complete | 822 | $9,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $126.39/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 South University’s online programs.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1367 | $9,690 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 198 | $9,256 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for South University’s online programs.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for South University’s online programs follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 17.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 20558 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,643 |
| Middle income | $15,278 |
| High income | $14,700 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,883 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,576 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,668 |
| Independent students | $12,990 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for South University’s online programs.
Subsidized vs. 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
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.