by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Syracuse University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Syracuse, 39% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $11,467 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The average federally funded loan is $5,227, which is 95.0% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at Syracuse, freshmen included, 33% take out federal student loans, at an average of $6,232 each per year. It comes to 19.2% higher than the $5,227 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,464 over two years and about $24,928 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 | 33% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,232 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 5,102 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $31,795,651 |
The median student at Syracuse borrows $23,697 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $23,697 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Syracuse.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $6,500 |
| 25th percentile | $15,500 |
| 75th percentile | $32,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,998 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Syracuse.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Syracuse.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2384 | $34,838 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1820 | $39,841 |
| Did not complete | 564 | $24,540 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $473.75/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at Syracuse.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2337 | $34,747 |
| No Stafford loan | 47 | $36,980 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1996 | $39,025 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 388 | $20,691 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Syracuse.
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 Syracuse is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3493 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $21,250 |
| Middle income | $25,000 |
| High income | $24,250 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $23,896 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,250 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $24,000 |
| Independent students | $19,250 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Syracuse.
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.
Did You Know?
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.