by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Alaska Fairbanks: 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.
Among first-year students at UAF, 26% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $6,822 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,081, or about 92.4% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Looking at all undergraduates at UAF, freshmen included, 23% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,719 each per year. That is 32.2% above the $5,081 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,438 by year two and around $26,876 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 | 23% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,719 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 929 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,242,233 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at UAF carry a median federal debt of $11,283 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,283 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,291 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 UAF.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,500 |
| 25th percentile | $4,678 |
| 75th percentile | $21,901 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,934 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UAF.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at UAF.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 415 | $14,072 |
| Completed (graduates) | 104 | $15,888 |
| Did not complete | 311 | $13,251 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $188.93/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 UAF.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 401 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 14 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 210 | $13,224 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 205 | $14,666 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for UAF.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UAF appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1202 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $12,136 |
| Middle income | $11,191 |
| High income | $11,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,989 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $9,500 |
| Independent students | $13,250 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UAF.
The Difference Between 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.
Important to Remember
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.