by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Alabama at Birmingham: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at UAB, 52% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $6,747 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,148, or about 93.6% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Counting every undergraduate at UAB, 41% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,792 in federal loans per year. This works out to 31.9% greater than the freshman federal average of $5,148.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,584 across two years and $27,168 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 41% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,792 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,985 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $33,857,005 |
The median student at UAB borrows $15,832 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,832 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,300 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,204 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for UAB.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $26,082 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,540 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at UAB.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for UAB.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2409 | $18,372 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1339 | $20,498 |
| Did not complete | 1070 | $16,787 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $243.74/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at UAB.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2378 | $18,249 |
| No Stafford loan | 31 | $23,215 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2012 | $18,156 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 397 | $19,342 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. UAB.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UAB appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3481 |
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 | $16,666 |
| Middle income | $15,985 |
| High income | $15,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,188 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,250 |
| Independent students | $16,944 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UAB.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Worth Knowing
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.