by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Missouri-St Louis: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at UMSL, 46% of first-year students take on loan debt, borrowing on average $6,324 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,047, or about 91.8% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
For undergraduates overall at UMSL, 46% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $7,357 per year. This works out to 45.8% higher than the $5,047 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,714 in two years and roughly $29,428 after four. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 46% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,357 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,336 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $17,186,718 |
The middle borrower at UMSL owes $16,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $11,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at UMSL.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,100 |
| 25th percentile | $8,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,875 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,278 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at UMSL.
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 UMSL.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1283 | $14,900 |
| Completed (graduates) | 720 | $15,027 |
| Did not complete | 563 | $14,200 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $178.69/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 UMSL.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1268 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 15 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 936 | $13,912 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 347 | $18,528 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. UMSL.
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 UMSL follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 5.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 3608 |
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 | $18,987 |
| Middle income | $16,500 |
| High income | $14,582 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,320 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $21,153 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at UMSL.
Subsidized vs. 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.
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.