by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Baltimore— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at UB, 40% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $8,355 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $6,355. This meets or exceeds the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent freshman. 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 UB, 40% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $7,628 per year. It comes to 20.0% above the $6,355 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $15,256 by year two and around $30,512 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 40% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,628 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 491 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,745,430 |
The middle borrower at UB owes $18,972 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,972 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $16,792 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at UB.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,346 |
| 25th percentile | $7,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,750 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at UB.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at UB.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 501 | $16,900 |
| Completed (graduates) | 107 | $22,000 |
| Did not complete | 394 | $16,000 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $261.6/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 UB.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 398 | $16,692 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 103 | $17,964 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. UB.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UB follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1632 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $20,000 |
| High income | $15,284 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,250 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,750 |
| Independent students | $22,634 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UB.
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
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.