by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of the Ozarks, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
At Ozarks specifically, 65% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, with a typical loan of $7,140 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,285, amounting to 96.1% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. 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 Ozarks, 44% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $5,575 in federal loans per year. That is 5.5% above the $5,285 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,150 after two years and $22,300 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 44% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,575 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 333 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,856,491 |
The middle borrower at Ozarks owes $11,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $11,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $20,875 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
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 Ozarks.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,000 |
| 75th percentile | $19,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Ozarks.
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 Ozarks.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 43 | $9,900 |
| Completed (graduates) | 20 | $9,875 |
| Did not complete | 23 | $9,900 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $117.42/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Ozarks.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Ozarks appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 11.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 116 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $10,900 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $13,000 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,375 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,475 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,000 |
| Independent students | $13,950 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Ozarks.
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.
Important to Remember
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.