Posted Date: February 09, 2009
Author: Sybil Phillips, Service Director, Portfolio Performance Management, Federal Student Aid
Subject: FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rates Distributed February 9, 2009
On the morning of Monday, February 9, 2009, we distributed the FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rate notification packages to all eligible domestic and foreign schools. In this announcement, we provide information about our distribution of the draft rates and the begin dates for challenging the draft rates.
Distribution of FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rates
We distributed the FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default notification packages to schools as follows:
Domestic Schools - We sent each eligible domestic school enrolled in the Electronic Cohort Default Rate (eCDR) process its FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rate and accompanying documentation via the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG). This information was sent to the SAIG mailbox for the destination point designated by the school. Each eCDR notification package contained the following information:
- Cover Letter (message class SHDRLROP)
- Reader-Friendly Loan Record Detail Report (message class SHCDRROP)
- Extract-Type Loan Record Detail Report (message class SHCDREOP)
We also sent a Network Message (message class MESSAGTB) to each school's SAIG mailbox that provides instructions for downloading, viewing, and printing the eCDR files. If a technical problem caused by the Department of Education (the Department) results in an inability to access the data, a domestic school has five business days from its receipt of the eCDR notification package to notify the Portfolio Performance Division at the e-mail address provided below.
Note: We did not send eCDR notification packages to domestic schools that are not enrolled in eCDR. A domestic school that is not enrolled in eCDR may download its FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rate and accompanying Loan Record Detail Reports from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) via the NSLDS Professional Access Web site.
Foreign Schools - We mailed each eligible foreign school an FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rate notification package via the U.S. Postal Service.
- If a foreign school has one or more borrowers in repayment, the package includes a Loan Record Detail Report (LRDR) as an encrypted Portable Document Format (PDF) file on a CD-ROM. We mailed a separate letter providing the password needed to decrypt the LRDR to each school.
- If a foreign school does not have a PDF viewer, the Adobe Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe Web site.
- If a technical problem caused by the Department of Education (the Department) results in an inability to access the data, a foreign school has five business days from its receipt of the notification letter or password letter (whichever is the latest) to notify the Portfolio Performance Division at the e-mail address provided below.
Note: Foreign schools are currently able to sign up to receive future cohort default rate notification packages electronically via the SAIG (just as domestic schools receive their data). With this functionality now available to foreign schools, we plan to provide cohort default rate information to all foreign schools electronically beginning with notification of the FY 2007 Official Cohort Default Rates in September 2009. For information on SAIG access, foreign schools can contact the Foreign School Team at 202/377-3168.
Begin Dates for Challenging FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rates
The time period for challenging a school's FY 2007 Draft Cohort Default Rate under 34 CFR Part 668, Subpart M begins as follows:
Domestic Schools - Begins on Wednesday, February 18, 2009.
Foreign Schools - Begins on the receipt date of the notification letter or password letter (whichever is the latest). If the Department caused a technical problem that resulted in an inability to access the data, we will extend the challenge deadlines to account for the re-transmission of the information after the technical problem has been resolved.
Contact Information
For additional information regarding the school cohort default rate calculation or the challenge processes, refer to the revised Cohort Default Rate Guide or the new CDR Guide Quick Reference. Both guides are available at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/DefaultManagement/DefaultManagement.html.
You may also contact us by e-mailing fsa.schools.default.management@ed.gov or by calling the Portfolio Performance Division (formerly Default Prevention and Management) Hotline at 202/377-4259.