by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Minnesota-Duluth, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at UMN Duluth, 59% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $9,490 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,240, amounting to 95.3% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at UMN Duluth, 50% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $6,029 in federal loans per year. It comes to 15.1% greater than the $5,240 borrowed by freshmen.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,058 by year two and around $24,116 by the fourth year. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 50% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,029 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,741 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $22,555,216 |
The middle borrower at UMN Duluth owes $16,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,024 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,500 |
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 UMN Duluth.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,551 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at UMN Duluth.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for UMN Duluth.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 702 | $18,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 425 | $22,127 |
| Did not complete | 277 | $14,150 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $263.11/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 UMN Duluth.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 667 | $18,114 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 35 | $12,666 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at UMN Duluth.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for UMN Duluth follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2474 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,049 |
| Middle income | $15,000 |
| High income | $17,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,750 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,750 |
| Independent students | $17,579 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UMN Duluth.
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?
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.