by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Illinois Chicago, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At UIC specifically, 19% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $8,143 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $5,107, representing 92.9% 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.
Across the full undergraduate body at UIC (freshmen included), 22% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, averaging $6,324 in federal loans per year. It comes to 23.8% larger than the $5,107 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,648 by year two and around $25,296 by the fourth year. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 22% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,324 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,833 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $30,565,176 |
The median student at UIC borrows $13,657 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $13,657 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $16,704 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for UIC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,463 |
| 75th percentile | $24,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at UIC.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for UIC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 3065 | $22,609 |
| Completed (graduates) | 2159 | $24,323 |
| Did not complete | 906 | $19,222 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $289.23/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at UIC.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 2942 | $22,601 |
| No Stafford loan | 123 | $24,000 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 2464 | $22,743 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 601 | $21,866 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for UIC.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for UIC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 4650 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,750 |
| Middle income | $13,000 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,000 |
| Independent students | $18,132 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UIC.
The Difference Between 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.
Important to Remember
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.