Student Loans: Characteristics of Students and Default Rates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed several issues regarding default rates at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), focusing on: (1) a comparison of freshman students at HBCUs with those at all colleges and universities in terms of the academic and socioeconomic characteristics that have been linked to student loan defaults; (2) differences in socioeconomic characteristics among 4-year HBCUs, for undergraduate students with higher default rates compared with schools with lower default rates; (3) measures the Department of Education has taken or planned to help HBCUs reduce their student loan default rates; (4) the number of HBCUs that are potentially at risk of losing title IV student loan eligibility because of high default rates in 1993-95, and how many of these were potentially at risk in 1988-90; and (5) measures HBCUs have taken to reduce or minimize their student loan default rates.