by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of California-Davis— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at UC Davis, 22% of first-year students take on loan debt, averaging $5,827 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The average federal loan is $4,147, equal to roughly 75.4% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at UC Davis, freshmen included, 20% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $5,164 annually. This works out to 24.5% greater than the freshman federal average of $4,147.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $10,328 by year two and around $20,656 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 20% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,164 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 6,250 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $32,274,198 |
The middle borrower at UC Davis owes $11,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $13,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,500 |
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 UC Davis.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,334 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $20,397 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at UC Davis.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at UC Davis.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2426 | $23,845 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1725 | $25,733 |
| Did not complete | 701 | $19,333 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $305.99/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 UC Davis.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2286 | $23,880 |
| No Stafford loan | 140 | $23,473 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2137 | $24,123 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 289 | $22,499 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at UC Davis.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UC Davis appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 5196 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $11,000 |
| Middle income | $11,000 |
| High income | $12,204 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,551 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,000 |
| Independent students | $11,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UC Davis.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.