One In Five Default On Their Student Loans
Julianne Hing, Colorlines, July 13, 2010

The Chronicle of Higher Ed took a look at student loan default rates, and they’re much worse than people had previously thought. A whopping 20 percent of the government student loans that began repayment in 1995 have been defaulted on.

Most colleges look only at a “cohort-default rate,” which measures only those who default on their loans within two years of their repayment. But the longterm figures paint a more accurate, and troubling picture. Fifteen years after repayment begins, 31 percent of government student loans made to community college students eventually go into default. And 40 percent of students who use their federal student loans at for-profit schools default on their loans.

If you break it down further, the numbers show that students of color are disproportionately saddled with student loans that they can’t get out of. Indeed, black students default on their student loans at four times the overall average default rate. (Read the full article)