CEU’s loan default rate drops
College of Eastern Utah’s cohort loan default rate from the Department of Education on Federal Student Loans dropped to 5.3 percent. That’s lower than Snow College and Dixie State College who stand at 6.4 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively. Salt Lake Community College was two-tenths of a point less than CEU with a 5.1 percent default rate.
CEU’s default rate was 7.7 percent in 2001, 7.4 percent in 2000 and 6.2 percent in 1999.
College of Eastern Utah’s cohort loan default rate from the Department of Education on Federal Student Loans dropped to 5.3 percent. That’s lower than Snow College and Dixie State College who stand at 6.4 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively. Salt Lake Community College was two-tenths of a point less than CEU with a 5.1 percent default rate.
CEU’s default rate was 7.7 percent in 2001, 7.4 percent in 2000 and 6.2 percent in 1999.
Vice President of Institutional Research, Brad King, acknowledge CEU’s achievement and is proud that it has the lowest of any of the two-year colleges in the state. In an e-mail sent campus wide, he said, “I know that this has been a continuing effort for years and we have moved from among the worst in the state to among the best.”
Bill Osborn, financial aid director echoed King’s remarks. “For many years, College of Eastern Utah has striven to reduce the cohort default rate on Stafford Student Loans. When the first default rates were announced in the early 1990’s, CEU had the highest default rate in the state. Since that time the rate has steadily been reduced. The importance of this is federal law prohibits schools with a three year rate of 25 percent or higher or a one year rate of 30 percent or higher, from participating in financial aid programs. CEU students receive over 5 million annually from federal financial aid programs. The loss of these programs would devastate the college. Therefore, we are very proud of the fact that our default rate is now one of the lowest in the state and that the threat of losing federal aid is no longer hanging over our heads.”
Utah’s four-year colleges and universities default rates are traditionally lower than the two-year colleges. Brigham Young University is .03 percent; Southern Utah University, 3.4 percent; University of Utah, 1.9 percent; Utah State University, 1.6 percent; Utah Valley State College, 3 percent; Weber State University, 2.3 percent and Westminster College, 1 percent.
The four highest loan rates in Utah were at private small colleges. Mountain West College stood at 13.8 percent; Stevens Henager, 11.3 percent; Eagle Gate College, 11.1 percent; and Northface University 10.4 percent.
