Borrowing students likely to default on their loans

The Keeping Student Loans Affordable Act, sponsored by Miller, is one of several proposals in Congress to delay or lessen the scheduled increase on student loan interest rates. A similar rate hike was scheduled to occur last summer but was delayed for one year after the issue became a talking point in the presidential campaigns of both President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney.

Miller’s announcement comes on the same day of a USA Today report that borrowing students at 265 U.S. colleges and universities are more likely to default on their loans than full-time freshmen are to complete their studies.

Many students at these colleges will no doubt take out loans, graduate and get good jobs. But the high default rates and lower graduation rates suggest that many will not. Among the “Red Flag” schools are two in Utah, the private for-profit Broadview University and the ITT Technical Institute of Murray. According to the report, Broadview borrowers default their loans at a rate of 19.3 percent, compared with a 19 percent graduation rate at the school.