Waynesburg University loan default rate among lowest in the country

WAYNESBURG, Pa., March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Despite tuition numbers rising among schools across the country, Waynesburg University's Cohort Default Rate (CDR) continues to be among low numbers, according to one Waynesburg official.

"The Cohort Default Rate looks at students who in a particular cohort year go into repayment," said Matt Stokan, director of Financial Aid. "In those numbers, they look at the total number of students divided by the number of students who either don't begin a repayment process or don't take advantage of the deferment options that are available."

The CDR system used to look at a two-year period to determine what percentage of students was defaulting on their student loans. The system was recently revised to start reviewing a three-year period for the default rate.

Waynesburg's default rate for the two-year CDR in 2011 was 3.4 percent and the three-year rate was 5.1 percent, according to Stokan. The recently released 2012 three-year CDR was 4.6 percent.

According to the Federal Education Budget Project, the national average for a two-year CDR in 2011 was 10 percent.  The 2011 3-year National CDR was 13.7 percent.

Stokan attributes the success of keeping the university's default rate low to the administration and also the students.

"95 percent of students who go into repayment stay out of default," said Stokan. "I credit this to number one, the quality of students we enroll and graduate from the university. Two, I think its a credit to our administration because as I have said before, I think president [Doug] Lee and former president [Timothy] Thyreen and the administration have made a concerted effort to keep our costs as low as possible."

The correlation of having lower costs leads to students having to borrow less and thus not defaulting as often as others, according to Stokan.

Quality placement rates are another reason why Stokan believes Waynesburg students are so successful on repaying loans, because they are able to get jobs that enable them to repay their loans.

These rates are important according to Stokan, because once a school has a default rate of 30 percent for three consecutive years, the federal assistance provided by the government to the school will no longer be available.

SOURCE Waynesburg University

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http://www.waynesburg.edu