The Official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate Briefing for FY 2023 official cohort default rates (CDRs) is attached. The FY 2023 CDRs were calculated using the cohort of student loan borrowers who entered repayment on their William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans or Federal Family Education Loans between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023, and who defaulted between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2025.
As expected, FY 2023 CDRs were significantly affected by the pause on federal student loan payments that began March 13, 2020. During the pause, borrowers with student loans held by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) were not required to make any payments, and no borrowers with ED-held loans entered default. As such, the FY 2023 CDRs should be interpreted with caution, as the results may provide an overly favorable picture of borrower repayment outcomes.
ED continues to urge all institutions of higher education to review their nonrepayment rate, which provides the percentage of Direct Loan borrowers, on an institutional basis, who entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025 and whose federal student loans were more than 90 days delinquent. On Sept. 22, 2026, ED updated the data on this cohort of borrowers as of August 2026.
The newly released nonpayment rate data shows that approximately 1,800 institutions have nonpayment rates at or exceeding 25 percent. Those institutions with nonrepayment rates above 25 percent are strongly encouraged to take the following actions in preparation for the upcoming release of the draft FY 2024 CDRs, which will be issued early next year and will be the first such release following the full expiration of pandemic-era flexibilities:
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Update and maintain their default management and prevention plans and target interventions to their delinquent borrowers, consistent with the Electronic Announcement issued on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Register and attend an upcoming webinar as part of a new default prevention initiative by Federal Student Aid (FSA) to support institutions of higher education with high nonrepayment rates.
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On Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, from 1:15-2:15 p.m. Eastern time, FSA will host a webinar titled, “Default Prevention: Institutional Strategies for Success.” The webinar will highlight the importance of managing and preventing loan defaults, explain how defaults can affect institutional operations and eligibility for federal student aid, and provide practical resources to help improve borrower communication and support students as they repay their loans. Campus leaders can register here.
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Access the new online, self-paced learning track on CDRs and default prevention and management. This learning track helps financial aid professionals understand how CDRs work, why they matter, and how institutions can use data, borrower outreach, and operational practices to support repayment success and manage default risk. The track contains two courses that are designed to be taken together. The first course provides foundational CDR knowledge, and the second course focuses on practical strategies for default prevention and management.
FSA is committed to supporting repayment rate success and stands ready to assist institutions of higher education with elevated nonpayment or CDRs improve borrower outcomes. It is imperative that all institutions—but especially those with large number of borrowers in delinquency and default—understand the CDR requirements under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and the consequences that may occur following the release of the official FY 2024 CDRs next fall.
If you have questions about the briefing, contact fsa.schools.default.management@ed.gov.
The U.S. Department of Education strives to make all content accessible to everyone. While this document does not currently meet the standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, Federal Student Aid is working to create an accessible version. If you need access to this document before the accessible version is available, please contact the Information Technology Accessibility Program Help Desk at ITAPSupport@ed.gov to help facilitate.
FY 2023 Official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate in PDF Format