by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of the District of Columbia: 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.
At University of the District of Columbia, 24% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, at roughly $5,809 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,368, representing 97.6% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
For undergraduates overall at University of the District of Columbia, 20% finance part of their studies with federal loans, with a mean of $6,895 per year. It comes to 28.4% greater than the $5,368 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,790 over two years and about $27,580 over a four-year span. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 20% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,895 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 626 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,316,157 |
The median student at University of the District of Columbia borrows $14,250 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,250 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $24,872 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 University of the District of Columbia.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,500 |
| 25th percentile | $4,750 |
| 75th percentile | $24,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,750 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at University of the District of Columbia.
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 University of the District of Columbia.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 402 | $14,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 152 | $13,279 |
| Did not complete | 250 | $14,043 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $157.9/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 University of the District of Columbia.
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 267 | $14,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 135 | $14,000 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at University of the District of Columbia.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for University of the District of Columbia is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 848 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,130 |
| Middle income | $12,500 |
| High income | $13,300 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $10,250 |
| Independent students | $19,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for University of the District of Columbia.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.
Worth Knowing
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.