Default Rate Falls to Record Low

By STEPHEN BURD

The rate at which borrowers default on their student loans has dropped to an all-time low of 5.4 percent, U.S. Education Department officials announced last week.

The default rate measures the percentage of borrowers who have defaulted within 12 to 24 months of leaving college. The latest data available are for borrowers who left college in the 2001 fiscal year. The 2001 rate dropped by half of a percentage point from the 2000 rate, and 17 percentage points since 1990, when the default

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Past Coverage

Student-Loan Defaults Fall to New Low - September 24, 2004
Default Rate on Student Loans Drops for 6th Consecutive YearInstitutions That Could Lose Their Eligibility for Student Aid - November 6, 1998
Default Rates on Student Loans Fall, but Figures Are Deceptive, Report Says - January 16, 2004
Default Rate on Student Loans Increases for First Time Since 1990 - September 20, 2002
Default Rate on Student Loans Falls Again, but Economic Decline Could End Trend - September 28, 2001

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