NAICU Washington Update

Private, Nonprofits Continue to Have the Lowest Cohort Default Rates

October 14, 2022

During a briefing on the FY 2019 Cohort Default Rates (CDRs), the Department of Education revealed that the official national CDR had decreased 68.5% from the previous year to a rate of just 2.3%.  The FY 2018 CDR was 7.3%.

Within higher education, the private, nonprofit sector continues to have the lowest official CDR of domestic institutions at 1.7%. The public sector’s official CDR is 2.3% and the propriety sector’s is 3.1%. 

All official CDRs represent a steep decline from the previous year due to the student loan repayment pause that is in effect until December 31, 2022. While these CDRs are official, there are institutions that have a small number of student loan borrowers entering repayment or only a small portion of the student body utilizing student loans. In such cases, the CDRs should be interpreted with caution.

The FY 2019 default rates were calculated using the cohort of student loan borrowers who entered repayment between October 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019, and who defaulted between October 1, 2018, and September 30, 2021. Institutions initially began receiving their official CDRs at the end of last month. 
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