by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Winston-Salem State University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at WSSU, 78% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, for an average of $6,471 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $5,798. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to 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.
For undergraduates overall at WSSU, 68% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, borrowing on average $6,566 each per year. That is 13.2% more than the first-year federal average of $5,798.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $13,132 after two years and $26,264 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 68% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,566 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,894 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $19,002,143 |
The middle borrower at WSSU owes $18,447 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $18,447 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
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 WSSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,060 |
| 25th percentile | $7,000 |
| 75th percentile | $28,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,214 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at WSSU.
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 WSSU.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1124 | $10,782 |
| Completed (graduates) | 577 | $12,030 |
| Did not complete | 547 | $9,004 |
Completers face an estimated standard 10-year monthly payment on their PLUS-inclusive debt of roughly $143.05/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 WSSU.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1106 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 18 | — |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1026 | $10,931 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 98 | $8,720 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for WSSU.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for WSSU is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1668 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $17,914 |
| High income | $14,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,750 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,750 |
| Independent students | $16,344 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at WSSU.
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.
Did You Know?
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.