Federal Student Loan Default Information and Resources

A cohort default rate is the percentage of a school's borrowers who enter repayment on certain Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans during a particular federal fiscal year (FY), October 1st to September 30th, and default or meet other specified conditions prior to the end of the second following fiscal year.

Gateway Community and Technical College wants to make sure our students have what they need to successfully begin loan repayment. We partner with Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) to provide early intervention and default prevention services to our students and former students who have entered repayment on their federal student loans. Students who have entered repayment may receive an email, letter, or phone call from the default management team at KHEAA. Please be assured that they are there to help borrowers stay on track and avoid delinquency, default and all the negative consequences that come with it. There is no fee to students for the assistance KHEAA provides. Feel free to contact KHEAA by calling (800) 564-6068 or emailing KHEAA.

In addition to KHEAA, students are encouraged to contact their federal loan servicer if they have questions about how or where to make payments, different repayment plans that may make their loans easier to manage, forbearance or in-school deferment forms. Borrowers can find their loan servicer name and contact information by logging in at Federal Student Aid.

The FY 2020 3-year cohort default rate(CDR) is the most recent official rate available until September 2024 when the 2021 3-Year cohort default rate will be published by Federal Student Aid. The 2020 default rates were calculated using the cohort of student loan borrowers who entered repayment on their William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, and who defaulted between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2022.

You can refer to the  Cohort Default Rate Database to search the current cohort default rate for any college,  university, or other institution that participates in the federal Direct Student Loan program. The official cohort default rate for fiscal year 2021 should be available in the database in September 2024.  Subsequent years will follow the same timeline and a new rate would be expected to be available each September.

*Note: The FY 2018, 2019, and 2020 cohort default rates were impacted by the pause on federal student loan payments that began March 13, 2020 and ended September 1, 2023. During the pause, borrowers with ED-held student loans were not required to make any payments, and no borrowers with ED-held loans entered default.