by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Ursinus College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At Ursinus, 72% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, borrowing on average $10,828 per student, private and federal loans combined.
The typical federal loan comes to $5,593. That is at or past the $5,500 federal first-year limit for the typical dependent freshman. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Across the full undergraduate body at Ursinus (freshmen included), 66% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $6,722 per year. That amounts to 20.2% larger than the $5,593 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $13,444 across two years and $26,888 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 | 66% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,722 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 976 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $6,560,417 |
The middle borrower at Ursinus owes $26,000 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $26,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $27,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Ursinus.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Ursinus.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Ursinus.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 181 | $43,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 122 | $59,162 |
| Did not complete | 59 | $24,759 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $703.5/mo.
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Ursinus.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Ursinus follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 1.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 334 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $27,000 |
| Middle income | $25,000 |
| High income | $26,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $26,267 |
| Continuing-generation students | $25,831 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Ursinus.
The Difference Between Subsidized and 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.
Worth Knowing
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.