by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend University of Utah, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at U of U, 21% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, averaging $8,594 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,074, which is 92.3% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at U of U, 21% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $6,480 a year. That amounts to 27.7% larger than the freshman federal average of $5,074.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $12,960 after two years and $25,920 over four years. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 21% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,480 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 5,499 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $35,636,207 |
The middle borrower at U of U owes $14,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $14,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $19,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for U of U.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,000 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $23,054 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at U of U.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for U of U.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 935 | $19,506 |
| Completed (graduates) | 471 | $18,886 |
| Did not complete | 464 | $20,000 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $224.57/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at U of U.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 908 | $19,463 |
| No Stafford loan | 27 | $20,000 |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 731 | $19,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 204 | $20,520 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for U of U.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for U of U follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 2.8% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 4765 |
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 | $14,500 |
| Middle income | $14,783 |
| High income | $13,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,003 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,618 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,000 |
| Independent students | $16,625 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for U of U.
Subsidized vs. 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
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.