by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Stephen F Austin State University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At SFASU specifically, 47% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, averaging $7,041 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,453, or about 99.1% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at SFASU, 45% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $6,531 in federal loans per year. That is 19.8% greater than the $5,453 typical freshmen borrow.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $13,062 by year two and around $26,124 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 45% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,531 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,951 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $25,804,526 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at SFASU carry a median federal debt of $17,750 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,409 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at SFASU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,158 |
| 25th percentile | $6,682 |
| 75th percentile | $28,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at SFASU.
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 SFASU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2324 | $14,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1494 | $18,080 |
| Did not complete | 830 | $8,710 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $214.99/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at SFASU.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2284 | $14,099 |
| No Stafford loan | 40 | $8,791 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2212 | $14,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 112 | $14,206 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at SFASU.
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 SFASU is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3269 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $18,315 |
| Middle income | $17,500 |
| High income | $17,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,979 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,495 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,500 |
| Independent students | $19,875 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SFASU.
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.
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.