YSU Student Loan Default Rate 14.1%, EGCC 20.7%
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Students who take out loans to study at Youngstown State University default at a rate of 14.1% within two years of dropping out or graduating, the U.S. Department of Education reports.
At Eastern Gateway Community College, the rate is 20.7%.
As of Sept. 30, 649 former YSU students were in arrears on their student loans, reports Elaine Ruse, who heads the office of financial aid at the university, but only 52 of that number had graduated. Of the 4,596 who took out federal student loans on which they still owe, she said Thursday, 3,947 are current.
The Department of Education also issued a report on the Three-Year Cohort Default Rates – it believes three years is a more accurate measure than two, Ruse said -- and YSU has an 18.4% default rate.
The vast majority of students who defaulted attended a semester or two, earning 24 or fewer credit hours before deciding college wasn’t for them. A few have stayed in school but are enrolled part-time, Ruse said. Part-time enrollment requires repayment, she noted.
“A student needs to be employed to repay,” Ruse noted. Those who dropped out likely are unemployed, she speculates, or aren’t earning enough to make repayments. A tough economy, she says, makes it tough to find work.
By comparison, other public universities and community colleges in Ohio reflect these two-year default rates:
- Kent State University, 11.8%.
- Cincinnati State, 17.5%.
- Sinclair Community College, 19.7%.
- Stark State College, 21.9%.
Three-year default rates:
- Cleveland State University, 11.1%.
- Kent State, 12.9%.
- Cincinnati State, 22.9%.
- Stark State, 24.5%
- Sinclair Community, 26.1%
When it helps students borrow, the YSU office of financial aid counsels students that they are responsible for repaying their loans, Ruse said. Some are counseled in workshops the university holds.
Default “is a black eye” that affects their credit scores, their ability to buy a car or obtain a credit card. ‘We try to help them understand,” she said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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