Three-year Official Cohort Default Rates for Schools
On October 28, 2009, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) published in the Federal Register the regulations enacted by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2009 that will govern the calculation of cohort default rates. Under the new provisions, an institution's cohort default rate is calculated as the percentage of borrowers in the cohort who default before the end of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the borrowers entered repayment. This extends the length of time in which a student can default from two to three years.
A 3-year cohort default rate is the percentage of a school's borrowers who enter repayment on certain Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans during a particular federal fiscal year (FY), October 1 to September 30, and default or meet other specified conditions prior to the end of the second following fiscal year. Please refer to the Cohort Default Rate Guide for a more in-depth description of cohort default rates and how the rates are calculated.
The U.S Department of Education releases official cohort default rates once per year. The FY 2009 official 3-year cohort default rates, the first official 3-year cohort default rates available, were delivered to both domestic and foreign schools on September 24, 2012, electronically via the eCDR process. All schools must enroll in eCDR to receive cohort default rate notification. Schools may check their eCDR enrollment online or by calling CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800-330-5947.
Secretary Duncan announced that the FY 2009 3-year national cohort default rate is 13.4 percent. The Department also released a summary of the FY 2009 official 3-year cohort default rates by state and by institution type. We are also providing tables with the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and Direct Loan (DL) Program default rates and a briefing on the national default rates.
Schools may also obtain an electronic loan record detail report via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Professional Access website. A loan record detail report contains the data used to calculate a school's FY 2009 official 3-year cohort default rate. Assistance in accessing the NSLDS site or with downloading an electronic loan record detail report is available through NSLDS Customer Service at 1-800-999-8219.
For schools interested in taking actions to manage defaults, read the sample default management plan.
Important Note: Some schools have a small number of borrowers entering repayment. At other schools only a small portion of the student body takes out student loans. In such cases, the cohort default rate should be interpreted with caution as these rates may not be reflective of the entire school population.
Search the Cohort Default Rate Database 
You may search this database for one school or many schools by OPEID (Office of Postsecondary Education Identification Number), school name, city/state, institution type, or eligibility status. Note: A school must have had at least one borrower in repayment for any of the years for which a cohort default rate was calculated to be found in this database.
Other information:
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fact Sheet.
Download a Zipped Microsoft Access File
The information contained in the searchable database and the downloadable files reflects schools' 3-year cohort default rate data as of September 24, 2012. Because a school may appeal its cohort default rates, a school's official cohort default rate may change. Please contact the Operations Performance Division at (202) 377-4259 or via e-mail at fsa.schools.default.management@ed.gov for the most up-to-date information regarding school cohort default rates and eligibility for Title IV student financial assistance programs.
Instructions on using these files | |
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FY 2009 official 3-year cohort default rates published for schools participating in the Title IV student financial assistance programs. |
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Schools with a FY 2009 official 3-year cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 30 percent. These schools must establish a default prevention task force that prepares a plan to identify the factors causing cohort default rate to exceed 30 percent and submit to the Department for review. |