Official Cohort Default Rate

According to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA), Pub.L.109-71 and the Department of Education's (Department) regulations, Andrews University is not subject to any sanctions based on Andrews University's FY 2017 CDR.

The national average cohort default rate for Fiscal Year 2017 is 9.7%.
The percentage of full-time, beginning, undergraduate students that took out loans for school year 2018-2019 is 59%.

Andrews University's Three-Year Official Cohort Default Rate
Fiscal Year	2018	2017	2016	2015
Default rate	3.5%	4.8%	4.6%	5.3%
Number in default	18	28	28	33
Number in repayment	513	576	601	622

What is a cohort default rate?

For schools having 30 or more borrowers entering repayment in a fiscal year, the school’s cohort default rate is the percentage of a school’s borrowers who enter repayment on certain Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs) and/or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans (Direct Loans) during that fiscal year and default (or meet the other specified condition) within the cohort default period. For schools with 29 or fewer borrowers entering repayment during a fiscal year, the cohort default rate is an “average rate” based on borrowers entering repayment over a three-year period.

What is a cohort default period?

The phrase “cohort default period” refers to the three-year period that begins on October 1st of the fiscal year when the borrower enters repayment and ends on September 30th of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the borrower entered repayment. This is the period during which a borrower’s default affects the school’s cohort default rate.

Cohort default rates are based on federal fiscal years. Federal fiscal years begin October 1st of a calendar year and end on September 30th of the following calendar year. Each federal fiscal year refers to the calendar year in which it ends.

The phrase “cohort fiscal year” or “cohort year” refers to the fiscal year for which the cohort default rate is calculated. For example, when calculating the 2017 cohort default rate, the cohort fiscal year is FY 2017 (October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017).

How is the cohort default rate calculated?

The formula the Department uses for calculating a school’s cohort default rate depends on the number of borrowers from that school entering repayment in a particular cohort fiscal year and the number of cohort default rates previously calculated for the school. Note that cohort default rates are based on the number of borrowers who enter repayment, not the number of loans that enter repayment. A borrower with multiple loans from the same school whose loans enter repayment during the same cohort fiscal year will be included in the formula only once for that cohort fiscal year.