Department of Education Data Show For Profit Student Default Rates Close to 50 Percent

by Andy Kroll Here’s a shocking new statistic that puts the ongoing regulatory battle between for-profit colleges—the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, and so on—and the Department of Education into context. According to new data from the DoE released recently, 46.3 percent of all loan money lent to students at two- and four-year for-profit colleges in 2008 would eventually go into default. By comparison, the overall default rate in 2008—lumping together loan money given out to students at community colleges, for-profits, and traditional undergraduate and graduate schools—was only 15.8 percent. You know something’s wrong when the for-profit default rate, dollar […]