by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Houston: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at UH, 36% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, with a typical loan of $7,249 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,012, amounting to 91.1% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at UH, 32% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $6,418 a year. That is 28.1% larger than the $5,012 typical freshmen borrow.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,836 by year two and around $25,672 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 32% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,418 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 11,908 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $76,425,477 |
The median student at UH borrows $14,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,194 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,838 |
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.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,000 |
| 75th percentile | $24,038 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,500 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at UH.
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 UH.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 2440 | $17,332 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1394 | $18,072 |
| Did not complete | 1046 | $16,671 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $214.9/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 UH.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2383 | $17,236 |
| No Stafford loan | 57 | $21,066 |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2004 | $17,357 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 436 | $17,195 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at UH.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for UH appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 6881 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,200 |
| Middle income | $13,687 |
| High income | $14,519 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,002 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,000 |
| Independent students | $18,750 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for UH.
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.
Worth Knowing
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.