Student Loan - Loans and Debt Consolidation

STATE MUST WAKE UP TO STUDENT LOAN DEFAULTS ORLANDO SENTINEL

At Orlandos Centura Institute, a private health-care career college, 26 percent of students whose loans came due in 2009 had defaulted by the end of 2010, according to recent federal statistics.

That means one in four face financial ruin wrecked credit, docked wages and no more aid if they go back to school.

The statistics on loan defaults among college students show Florida with a higher overall rate, at 10.5 percent, than the national figure of 8.8 percent. The numbers at the states 100 or so for-profit colleges, including Centura, are even worse. All but a few posted higher default rates than the Florida average.

And because most college loans are federally guaranteed, defaults are a burden on taxpayers, too. They get stuck with the bill when students dont pay.

Centura didnt respond to requests for comment about its high student-default rate. But representatives of the for-profit college industry say their schools suffer higher rates because their students are often older, working adults who cant rely on family for help.

Maybe, but the industry also charges far higher tuition than public colleges, so its students go deeper into debt. And the numbers indicate that bigger investment often doesnt land them jobs that pay enough to cover their debts.

High default rates at for-profit colleges have drawn scrutiny from Congress as well as federal and other state regulators. The U.S. Education Department has decided to deny federal aid for sch...[more]