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Student Loan Default Rates at National College Once Again Surpass Peers

Student Loan Default Rates at National College Once Again Surpass Peers

The federal government recently issued its analysis of guaranteed student loan default rates, and once again National College scored much better than the national average. National College's rate of less than 2.8% (a weighted average of the college's three organizational division rates) is well below the nationwide rate of 4.6%; and has been for many years.

With a default rate of 2.5%, the Virginia Division of National College performs substantially better than both the Virginia (4.1%) averages. With a default rate of 3.4%, the Kentucky Division performs better than the Kentucky (6%) averages. With a default rate of 1.4%, the Tennessee Division also performs substantially better than the Tennessee (5.9%) averages.

"These federal default rates continue to demonstrate that a National College education is an exceptional value," said National College President Frank Longaker. Our students are more likely to graduate, more likely to get good jobs, and thus more likely to remain in good standing on their student loans, than students who attend many other colleges.

Last month, the Department of Education released the final student loan default rate data for the 2005 cohort. According to the Default Prevention Management web site of the Department of Education:

Defaulted federal student loans cost taxpayers money. By calculating cohort default rates, sanctioning schools with higher rates, and providing benefits to schools with lower rates, the US Department of Education creates an incentive for schools to work with borrowers to reduce defaults. As a result, cohort default rates help save taxpayers money.

"Our students are much like those who attend many other colleges" says Longaker. "They are ordinary, hard-working folks, who often attend college while holding down full-time jobs. The combination of highly effective career education, placement assistance, and financial counseling that National College provides is what ensures our students are able to achieve success."

The Official Cohort Default Rate Search database can be found on the web at: http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/COHORT/search_cohort.cfm The simple fact is, National College students are more likely to graduate, more likely to find jobs, and more able to pay back their student loans than students at most other colleges.