Despite Lower Rates, More Than 650,000 Defaulted on Federal Student Loans
More than 650,000 federal student loan borrowers who entered repayment in 2011 defaulted on their loans by 2013, new federal data show. For-profit colleges account for nearly half of these defaults (288,000 or 44%) despite enrolling just 12 percent of students nationally. For-profit colleges also continue to have a much higher average default rate than other types of schools: 19.1 percent, compared to 12.9 percent at public colleges and 7.2 percent at nonprofit colleges. Across all colleges, 13.7 percent of borrowers defaulted within three years of entering repayment, a slight decrease from the rates reported for the previous year, but still higher than just two years ago.
