by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Rhode Island, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at URI, 64% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $12,750 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,240, amounting to 95.3% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at URI, 52% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $6,217 a year. This is 18.6% more than the $5,240 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,434 in two years and roughly $24,868 over four years. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 52% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,217 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 7,211 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $44,829,082 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at URI carry a median federal debt of $17,750 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,750 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for URI.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,000 |
| 25th percentile | $7,909 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at URI.
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 URI.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1968 | $25,912 |
| Completed (graduates) | 1428 | $28,000 |
| Did not complete | 540 | $20,342 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $332.95/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at URI.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1932 | $25,884 |
| No Stafford loan | 36 | $29,659 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1731 | $26,006 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 237 | $22,023 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at URI.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for URI appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2910 |
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.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,493 |
| Middle income | $17,500 |
| High income | $19,069 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,185 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,250 |
| Independent students | $14,750 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at URI.
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?
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.