by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Stephens College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Stephens, 64% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $10,475 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $7,889. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical 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.
Counting every undergraduate at Stephens, 62% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $7,927 each per year. This is 0.5% greater than the $7,889 borrowed by freshmen.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $15,854 by year two and around $31,708 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 62% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,927 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 213 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,688,441 |
The middle borrower at Stephens owes $19,489 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,489 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,483 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Stephens.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,787 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Stephens.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Stephens.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 115 | $20,300 |
| Completed (graduates) | 75 | $27,900 |
| Did not complete | 40 | $10,995 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $331.76/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Stephens.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Stephens appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 356 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $23,750 |
| Middle income | $22,500 |
| High income | $14,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,927 |
| Independent students | $25,248 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Stephens.
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
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.