by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend SUNY Old Westbury— 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.
At SUNY Old Westbury, 34% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $5,603 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,207, or about 94.7% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at SUNY Old Westbury, 29% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,275 each per year. This works out to 20.5% higher than the $5,207 borrowed by freshmen.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,550 over two years and about $25,100 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 29% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,275 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,136 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $7,128,888 |
The middle borrower at SUNY Old Westbury owes $12,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $14,997 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
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 SUNY Old Westbury.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,500 |
| 75th percentile | $21,820 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,900 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at SUNY Old Westbury.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at SUNY Old Westbury.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 620 | $15,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 294 | $16,500 |
| Did not complete | 326 | $14,012 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $196.2/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 SUNY Old Westbury.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 607 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 13 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 430 | $13,541 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 190 | $22,073 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SUNY Old Westbury.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for SUNY Old Westbury appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 944 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $11,146 |
| Middle income | $12,331 |
| High income | $12,230 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,000 |
| Independent students | $12,129 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at SUNY Old Westbury.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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
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.