by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Denver, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At DU specifically, 31% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $9,341 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $5,108, representing 92.9% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Looking at all undergraduates at DU, freshmen included, 30% take out federal student loans, for a typical $6,238 annually. This is 22.1% larger than the $5,108 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,476 in two years and roughly $24,952 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 30% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,238 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,790 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $11,165,728 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at DU carry a median federal debt of $18,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $21,844 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,835 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for DU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,246 |
| 25th percentile | $7,765 |
| 75th percentile | $27,157 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at DU.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at DU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1731 | $25,500 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1013 | $27,813 |
| Did not complete | 718 | $22,475 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $330.73/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 DU.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1704 | $25,347 |
| No Stafford loan | 27 | $41,000 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1308 | $26,720 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 423 | $22,704 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. DU.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for DU follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2613 |
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 | $15,250 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $18,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,125 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,000 |
| Independent students | $19,055 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for DU.
The Difference Between 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.
Did You Know?
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.