by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend University of Cincinnati-Main Campus: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At UC, 51% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, for an average of $9,698 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,322, which is 96.8% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Looking at all undergraduates at UC, freshmen included, 42% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $6,424 annually. That is 20.7% larger than the freshman federal average of $5,322.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $12,848 by year two and around $25,696 over a four-year span. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 42% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,424 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 12,143 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $78,002,251 |
The middle borrower at UC owes $12,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 UC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,800 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,834 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,105 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UC.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at UC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 6279 | $20,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 3803 | $23,602 |
| Did not complete | 2476 | $16,936 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $280.65/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at UC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 6165 | $20,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 114 | $20,133 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 5563 | $20,432 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 716 | $16,653 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. UC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for UC is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 9406 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,000 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $12,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,833 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,000 |
| Independent students | $14,112 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UC.
Subsidized vs. 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.