by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Trinity 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.
At Trinity U specifically, 53% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $7,561 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,210, which is 94.7% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 Trinity U, 44% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $6,187 each per year. That amounts to 18.8% higher than the $5,210 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $12,374 across two years and $24,748 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 44% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,187 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,103 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,823,814 |
The median student at Trinity U borrows $19,500 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,954 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,351 |
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 Trinity U.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $10,500 |
| 75th percentile | $29,875 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,925 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Trinity U.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Trinity U.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 121 | $20,430 |
| Completed (graduates) | 100 | $19,986 |
| Did not complete | 21 | $27,629 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $237.65/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Trinity U.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Trinity U is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 370 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,337 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $19,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Trinity U.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
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.