College completion is the best default aversion

By Clare McCann. Last month, the U.S. Department of Education released data showing the share of borrowers at each institution of higher education that defaulted on student loans within three years of entering repayment. Most of the press coverage has focused on the 21 schools that exceeded the default rate set by Congress (30 percent for three consecutive years or 40 percent in any one year), and will likely be cut off from federal financial aid. These schools are the very worst of the worst, failing the default rate test even after some controversial fiddling with the numbers by the department. More...