A U.S. Department of Education report lists Arizona as having the nation’s highest rate of student loan defaults, but where the state really stands comes down to how you view the numbers.
That’s because the report counts loan defaults by schools based in a state. That means the for-profit University of Phoenix, with its nationwide student body, counts toward Arizona’s rate.
And count it does.
While the report lists the state’s default rate at 10.9 percent for fiscal 2008, removing the University of Phoenix lowers Arizona’s rate to around 8 percent. That’s much closer to the national rate of 7 percent.
Those attending the University of Phoenix, which had a default rate of 12.9 percent, accounted for 70 percent of loan defaults attributed to Arizona, the report showed.
“That has an impact on the state’s default rate and is part of the reason that the state is a national leader on student loan defaults,” Sara Gast, a Department of Education spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Vicki Polheber, a University of Phoenix spokeswoman, declined an interview request, citing a large number of media inquiries.
Arizona’s default rate was 9.8 percent in fiscal 2007, when it also was highest in the nation. The default rate in fiscal 2006 was 9.2 percent, placing Arizona second behind Kentucky.
Jake Stillwell, spokesman for the United States Student Association, a Washington, D.C.-based student group, said for-profit universities such as University of Phoenix typically have higher default rates because they attract lower-income students who struggle to repay loans.
“The average student borrower is graduating an average $25,000 in debt into one of the worst job markets in history,” Stillwell said.
Youth unemployment is now at 20 percent, the highest since the 1940s, hindering borrowers from paying off their loans, he added.
The report also shows community colleges tend to have higher default rates, with 14 out of the state’s 20 colleges above 10 percent.
In contrast, the state’s public universities all have rates in the low single-digits: 3 percent at Arizona State University, 4.3 percent at Northern Arizona University and 4 percent at the University of Arizona.
The report represented borrowers who entered repayment in the 2008 fiscal year but defaulted before Sept. 30, 2009. That is a total of 3.4 million borrowers nationwide, of which more than 238,000 have defaulted, it said.
Including University of Phoenix, Arizona had 223,468 loans in repayment with 24,531 in default for that period, the report said.
ValenS posted at 6:45 am on Wed, Jan 12, 2011.
Well, a lot of young people have to take student loans to get higher education, because less people can effort paying for tuition. After the graduation people often face problems with repaying their student loan, because it's rather hard to find out a good job with high salary. So students and graduates are to take payday loans online in order to provide payments.
LewisA posted at 6:19 am on Fri, Apr 1, 2011.
Indeed, a lot of people experience difficulties with the repayment of student loans as the education is expensive and young people can't find a good job just after the graduation and to get a high salary that would be enough for covering the daily expenses and providing the monthly payments for student loans. I think that the government should lower the expenses for tuition, otherwise we will get deep into debt and even debt consolidation won't help us.
SandraKeil posted at 3:01 am on Sat, Oct 1, 2011.
The public has to be aware that Arizona tops in the default in paying education loan
payday loans 300
andrinawilson12 posted at 9:19 pm on Sun, Nov 13, 2011.
I think so there can be the reason behind this default is youth unemployment is now at 20 percent, the highest since the 1940s.
12 month loan
kevin543 posted at 1:51 am on Mon, Nov 14, 2011.
The rate is based on the percentage of loans in a given year that are more than 270 days past due. Money Shop
Uma posted at 1:27 am on Fri, Feb 17, 2012.
Well, the department officials have now targeted the large number of for-profit schools in Arizona as a possible cause of these student loan defaults. According to the department’s statistics, the national default rate for-profit schools, just like the University of Phoenix, based in Arizona increased by nearly a third, from 11.5 to 15 %. Our public institutions also saw a significant increase of about 25 %, while private institutions saw a 15% increase. All these factors push people to use more cash advance loans. And what is upsetting to me is that the schools that maintain excessive default rates may lose the ability to offer federal student aid programs in future. The situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible, because the consequences may be really horrible.
studentdebtrelief posted at 9:28 pm on Sun, Apr 28, 2013.
Here at Student Debt Relief we are able to get your student loans out of default with in 4-6 weeks through several government programs you may qualify for, this will allow you to file your taxes this year and receive a monthly payment that can go as low as $25. This will clear up your credit report and you will then be able to qualify for additional finical aid please give me a call 1-855-429-9577 www.helpdefaultstudentloans.com