by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Tarleton 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.
Looking at the entering class at Tarleton, 51% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $9,738 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $7,455. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at Tarleton, 45% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $8,968 each per year. This works out to 20.3% more than the freshman federal average of $7,455.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $17,936 by year two and around $35,872 after four. 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 | $8,968 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 5,481 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $49,153,615 |
The middle borrower at Tarleton owes $13,989 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,989 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,606 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Tarleton.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $23,561 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Tarleton.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Tarleton.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1802 | $14,966 |
| Completed (graduates) | 987 | $17,125 |
| Did not complete | 815 | $13,203 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $203.63/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Tarleton.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1769 | $14,987 |
| No Stafford loan | 33 | $8,919 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1631 | $14,987 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 171 | $13,246 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Tarleton.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Tarleton follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2457 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,783 |
| Middle income | $14,050 |
| High income | $13,750 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,054 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,000 |
| Independent students | $16,284 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Tarleton.
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
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.