by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Vanguard University of Southern California: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
For incoming students at Vanguard, 60% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, borrowing on average $9,896 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $8,470. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit for a typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at Vanguard, 57% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $10,033 annually. This is 18.5% higher than the $8,470 borrowed by freshmen.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $20,066 across two years and $40,132 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 57% |
| Average federal loan per year | $10,033 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 1,127 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $11,306,872 |
The middle borrower at Vanguard owes $15,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $22,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,000 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Vanguard.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,080 |
| 25th percentile | $7,966 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,882 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Vanguard.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Vanguard.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 373 | $22,327 |
| Completed (graduates) | 128 | $25,750 |
| Did not complete | 245 | $20,400 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $306.19/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 Vanguard.
Stafford vs Non-Stafford (any year)
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 363 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 10 | — |
Stafford This Year vs Not
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 342 | $23,140 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 31 | $19,525 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Vanguard.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Vanguard is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 4.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 667 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,500 |
| Middle income | $15,145 |
| High income | $15,460 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,171 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $18,930 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Vanguard.
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.
Did You Know?
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.