The 500 colleges where former students aren't repaying their loans, and why
New federal data reveals that 500 U.S. colleges have student loan nonpayment rates exceeding 40%. The report highlights concerns regarding the value of for-profit education and the financial burden placed on both students and taxpayers.
Why it matters
It exposes systemic issues in higher education accountability and the potential for predatory lending practices in the for-profit sector.
Five-hundred colleges and universities in the U.S. now share one alarming distinction: At least 40% of recent students who borrowed federal loans aren't paying them back. That's according to the latest federal nonpayment-rate data published by the U.S. Education Department.
The data looks at the roughly 17 million borrowers who entered repayment for the first time between January 2020 and May 2025.
"These numbers are really jaw-dropping," says Eileen Connor, head of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, a nonprofit that advocates for borrowers and that reviewed the data.
At many schools, more than half of recent borrowers are at least three months late on their payments or have already passed nine months, which means they're in default.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in