Student Loan Nonpayment Rates and Cohort Default Risk

In May 2025, the Department of Education (ED) issued an electronic announcement showcasing the early iterations of the nonpayment rate data for institutions of higher education.

The data identifies student loan borrowers who are more than 90 days delinquent on their student loans. ED also warned institutions of the importance of cohort default rates (CDRs) and encouraged institutions to conduct outreach to former students who are delinquent or in default on their loans.

A CDR is one way ED measures student loan repayment rates, allowing the federal government to hold institutions accountable if they have a high CDR. After a pandemic-era pause in federal student loan repayments, which began under the first Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration, ED will be calculating official CDRs this year. The nonpayment rate data is a good data source to determine potential future CDRs for institutions and those students that may impact a CDR.

To keep institutions apprised of student loan borrower repayment status, ED issued the latest nonpayment rate data on July 23. This data shows student loan repayment status for borrowers who entered repayment since January 2020 and were in a repayment, deferment, forbearance, delinquent, or default as of mid-May 2025.

In the tables below, you can find the nonpayment rate data along with additional analysis examining its implications for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). These institutions enroll many students from low-income and historically underserved communities, making this information especially relevant to understanding potential cohort default risk.

Nonpayment Rates by Institutional Type

Summary

Note: A nonpayment rate is not calculated for institutions with fewer than 100 evaluated borrowers.

Public

Private Nonprofit

Proprietary

Nonpayment Rates by MSI Designation

Summary

HBCU/HBGI: Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Historically Black Graduate Institution
TCU: Tribal Colleges and Universities
PBI: Predominantly Black Institutions
ANNH: Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions
AANAPISI: Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions
HSI: Hispanic-Serving Institutions
NASNTI: Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions

Notes: A nonpayment rate is not calculated for institutions with fewer than 100 evaluated borrowers.

Some institutions may qualify for more than one Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) designation.

HBCU/HBGI

TCU

PBI

ANNH

AANAPISI

HSI

NASNTI

Methodology

Data Source

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)

Data Run Date

Data was run late May 2026

Privacy Redactions

To prevent small cell sizes, the count of "Total Borrowers Evaluated" was rounded to the nearest 100. Nonpayment rates were rounded to the nearest percentage. Nonpayment rates were also grouped into categories in the event the percentage could result in a calculated value of less than 10.

Definitions

Field Name	Definition
OPE ID	An six-digit code identifying the school at its main branch
School	The name of the school associated with the OPE ID
School Type	Indicates the control or ownership of the school
State	The state in which the main campus is located
Total Borrowers Evaluated	Count of Direct Loan borrowers by school who first entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025, and whose federal student loans remain open and in a repayment, deferment, forbearance, or defaulted loan status at the time of the data run.
Nonpayment Rate	Percentage of "Total Borrowers Evaluated" who have open Direct Loans that entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025, that are greater than 90 days delinquent (including default) at the time of the data run.