by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Houston-Downtown— 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.
Among first-year students at UH Downtown, 21% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $4,946 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,704, which is 85.5% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 UH Downtown, freshmen included, 30% take out federal student loans, averaging $7,935 a year. This works out to 68.7% greater than the $4,704 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $15,870 by year two and around $31,740 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 30% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,935 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,848 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $30,532,521 |
The middle borrower at UH Downtown owes $13,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $10,687 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for UH Downtown.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,250 |
| 25th percentile | $6,233 |
| 75th percentile | $25,340 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,446 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UH Downtown.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for UH Downtown.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 684 | $10,232 |
| Completed (graduates) | 279 | $10,000 |
| Did not complete | 405 | $10,500 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $118.91/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at UH Downtown.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 674 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 444 | $10,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 240 | $11,696 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at UH Downtown.
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 UH Downtown appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 8.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2752 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,500 |
| Middle income | $13,657 |
| High income | $12,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,381 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $10,266 |
| Independent students | $16,863 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UH Downtown.
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.