by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for University of Southern California: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at USC, 26% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $9,000 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $4,884, equal to roughly 88.8% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. 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 USC (freshmen included), 24% borrow through federal student loan programs, averaging $6,197 per year. That is 26.9% more than the freshman federal average of $4,884.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,394 after two years and $24,788 after four. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 24% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,197 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,956 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $30,711,359 |
The median student at USC borrows $16,112 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,112 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $18,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,927 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 USC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,462 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at USC.
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 USC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 3664 | $29,772 |
| Completed (graduates) | 3032 | $31,803 |
| Did not complete | 632 | $22,662 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $378.17/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 USC.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 3500 | $28,658 |
| No Stafford loan | 164 | $63,425 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 3139 | $29,542 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 525 | $30,264 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at USC.
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 USC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 5796 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $16,938 |
| Middle income | $17,000 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,500 |
| Independent students | $23,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for USC.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.