by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Union Adventist 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.
For incoming students at Union College, 81% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $6,553 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $4,106, equal to roughly 74.7% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at Union College, 78% rely on federal student loans toward their education, at an average of $5,577 per year. This is 35.8% more than the $4,106 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,154 over two years and about $22,308 over a four-year span. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 78% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,577 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 348 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,940,967 |
The median student at Union College borrows $18,750 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Union College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $7,600 |
| 75th percentile | $30,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,250 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Union College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Union College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 97 | $24,333 |
| Completed (graduates) | 59 | $28,808 |
| Did not complete | 38 | $18,359 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $342.56/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Union College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Union College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 235 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $24,500 |
| Middle income | $16,938 |
| High income | $16,924 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,931 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,473 |
| Independent students | $25,250 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Union College.
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.