by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for St Lawrence University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at St. Lawrence, 58% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $8,049 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,430, equal to roughly 98.7% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at St. Lawrence (freshmen included), 55% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $6,275 in federal loans per year. This works out to 15.6% greater than the freshman federal average of $5,430.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,550 by year two and around $25,100 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 55% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,275 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,112 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,977,988 |
The median student at St. Lawrence borrows $22,670 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $22,670 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,000 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for St. Lawrence.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,838 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at St. Lawrence.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at St. Lawrence.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 226 | $35,721 |
| Completed (graduates) | 140 | $44,628 |
| Did not complete | 86 | $25,528 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $530.67/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 St. Lawrence.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 209 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 17 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for St. Lawrence.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for St. Lawrence appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 447 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $23,250 |
| High income | $22,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $21,243 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,250 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for St. Lawrence.
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.