by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of North Texas, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At UNT specifically, 44% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $6,248 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,166, representing 93.9% 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 UNT, 36% take out federal student loans, averaging $6,224 each per year. This is 20.5% greater than the $5,166 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,448 over two years and about $24,896 across a four-year program. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 36% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,224 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 12,227 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $76,106,575 |
The median student at UNT borrows $14,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,250 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at UNT.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,335 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at UNT.
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 UNT.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 6255 | $19,876 |
| Completed (graduates) | 3831 | $23,211 |
| Did not complete | 2424 | $17,000 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $276.0/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at UNT.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 6035 | $20,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 220 | $16,623 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 5591 | $20,180 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 664 | $17,100 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for UNT.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UNT follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 7815 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,639 |
| Middle income | $14,000 |
| High income | $14,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,750 |
| Independent students | $15,946 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at UNT.
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.
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.