University students are better at managing their debt load than more than half of the nation’s colleges, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s latest numbers.
The department’s student loan default rate statistics for the most recent measurable year, 2008, show that after a slight increase in 2007, the percentage of Oregon students unable to pay back loans dropped to 5.8 percent at all 77 of the state’s public, private and for-profit higher education institutions. Compared to 2008’s national default rate of 7 percent at public and private schools across the country, the 46,670 Oregon student borrowers are faring considerably well in the face of a slow job market and fledging state economy. These latest loan default statistics account for students who borrowed money between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008, and whose first defaulted payment came before Sept. 30, 2009.
Broken down by school, the University has one of the lowest default rates in the state (1.9 percent), one-upped by the University of Portland (1.4 percent), Oregon State University (1.6 percent), Western Oregon University (1.8 percent) and some independent colleges. Elizabeth Bickford, the University’s director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, believes that the financial advising resources available on campus to low and middle-income students play a large part in keeping them out of loan default.
“I think (this rate) shows that we are trying to support students who are graduates, and are trying to offer financial advice to those who need it,” Bickford said. “The more well-read the individual is on their loans and what they have to do, the better off they will be.”
The director also thinks that University students may also be more lucrative in the job market, which allows them to earn steady salaries and make consistent loan payments as a result.
“Maybe it says something about their marketability and their ability to get a job,” Bickford said.
Similarly, administrators at Western Oregon University believe the school’s impressively low rate is a result of its informing students about repayment options and about the array of loan plans available to them.
“I believe one of the reasons our default rate is so low is because of the responsibility WOU borrowers take with repaying their loans,” WOU’s Financial Aid Office Director Donna Fossum said. “Having various repayment plans allows borrowers to choose the plan that best meets their needs.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Eastern Oregon University saw 6.1 percent of its former graduating class default on their loans, slightly higher than the state average but almost a full percentage point better than the nation’s. EOU President Bob Davies believes the high rate correlates to Eastern’s enrolling of more students from low-income families, as well as sparse employment opportunities for graduates.
“As students left the university, they weren’t getting the jobs,” Davies told the Oregonian last week.
University junior Patrick Freeman thinks the school’s relatively low default rate speaks to the worth of the school’s degrees, and is a good sign for prospective college students worried about earning tuition money back.
“I think it shows a good return on my investment,” Freeman said.
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