by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend University of Wisconsin-La Crosse: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At UW - La Crosse, 47% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $7,482 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,115, equal to roughly 93.0% 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.
Counting every undergraduate at UW - La Crosse, 43% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $5,896 per year. It comes to 15.3% above the first-year federal average of $5,115.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $11,792 after two years and $23,584 across a four-year program. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 43% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,896 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 3,964 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $23,372,717 |
The median student at UW - La Crosse borrows $18,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,000 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for UW - La Crosse.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,983 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 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 UW - La Crosse.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at UW - La Crosse.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 770 | $14,776 |
| Completed (graduates) | 512 | $16,958 |
| Did not complete | 258 | $12,478 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $201.65/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 UW - La Crosse.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 715 | $15,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 55 | $10,500 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. UW - La Crosse.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for UW - La Crosse is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2020 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $14,305 |
| Middle income | $17,819 |
| High income | $18,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,269 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,546 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,022 |
| Independent students | $16,804 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at UW - La Crosse.
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.
Important to Remember
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.