by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Empire State University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at SUNY Empire, 46% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $6,642 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federal loan is $6,642. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at SUNY Empire, 37% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $8,779 annually. It comes to 32.2% more than the freshman federal average of $6,642.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $17,558 in two years and roughly $35,116 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 37% |
| Average federal loan per year | $8,779 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,634 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $23,123,008 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at SUNY Empire carry a median federal debt of $11,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,730 |
| 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Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 SUNY Empire.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $25,511 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at SUNY Empire.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for SUNY Empire.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1447 | $13,550 |
| Completed (graduates) | 340 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 1107 | $15,062 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $118.91/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 Empire.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1423 | $13,550 |
| No Stafford loan | 24 | $11,827 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 515 | $9,206 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 932 | $17,141 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. SUNY Empire.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for SUNY Empire follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3259 |
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 | $10,371 |
| Middle income | $11,048 |
| High income | $12,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,084 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,897 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,500 |
| Independent students | $12,237 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at SUNY Empire.
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.
Did You Know?
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.