by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Thomas More University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Thomas More specifically, 87% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $6,310 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,776, representing 86.8% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Across the full undergraduate body at Thomas More (freshmen included), 74% finance part of their studies with federal loans, at an average of $6,247 a year. This works out to 30.8% larger than the $4,776 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,494 across two years and $24,988 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 | 74% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,247 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 967 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,040,680 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Thomas More carry a median federal debt of $14,376 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,376 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,236 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,285 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Thomas More.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $28,216 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Thomas More.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Thomas More.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 328 | $15,198 |
| Completed (graduates) | 164 | $21,436 |
| Did not complete | 164 | $12,960 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $254.9/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 Thomas More.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 299 | $15,690 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 29 | $10,114 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Thomas More.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Thomas More appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 479 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
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 | $12,283 |
| Middle income | $13,090 |
| High income | $17,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,975 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,751 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,375 |
| Independent students | $17,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Thomas More.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.