by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for The University of Texas at San Antonio— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
At UTSA, 37% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,124 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,938, or about 89.8% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at UTSA, 40% borrow through federal student loan programs, with a mean of $6,516 per year. This works out to 32.0% higher than the freshman federal average of $4,938.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,032 across two years and $26,064 over four years. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 40% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,516 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 11,868 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $77,327,268 |
The median student at UTSA borrows $15,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for UTSA.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,483 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,222 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UTSA.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at UTSA.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2750 | $13,388 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1791 | $13,859 |
| Did not complete | 959 | $12,973 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $164.8/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at UTSA.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2694 | $13,388 |
| No Stafford loan | 56 | $13,459 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2424 | $13,410 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 326 | $13,297 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at UTSA.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for UTSA appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 6802 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,000 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $14,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,269 |
| Independent students | $17,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UTSA.
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?
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.