The latest official national three-year federal student loan cohort default rate is 0.4% for the FY2023 cohort. Federal Student Aid reported 14,296 borrowers counted in default among 3,372,244 borrowers who entered repayment. The result is still heavily shaped by the federal payment pause, during which borrowers with loans held by the U.S. Department of Education did not enter default. Separately, June 2026 portfolio data show more than 9.3 million recipients with $234 billion in federally managed student loans in default.
The difference comes from measurement. The official cohort default rate follows one group of borrowers who entered repayment during a specific fiscal year. The June 2026 portfolio figures measure recipients and balances already in default at a point in time. Those statistics answer different questions and should not be treated as interchangeable default rates.
0.4%
3,372,244
14,296
>9.3 million
$234 billion
What the Student Loan Cohort Default Rate Measures
The federal three-year cohort default rate, commonly abbreviated CDR, is an institutional measure covering borrowers with Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loan Program loans who entered repayment during one federal fiscal year.
The denominator is the number of borrowers who entered repayment during that fiscal year. The numerator is the number from that cohort who entered default during the same fiscal year or either of the next two fiscal years.
Cohort default rate is not the percentage of all student loan borrowers currently in default. It is a three-year outcome measure for a defined repayment-entry cohort. Private student loans are not included in the federal CDR.
For example, the FY2023 cohort consists of borrowers who entered repayment from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. Federal Student Aid then tracked defaults through September 30, 2025.
For most federal student loans, Federal Student Aid states that a loan goes into default after scheduled payments have not been made for at least 270 days. Delinquency and default therefore describe different stages of nonpayment.
Federal Student Loan Default Rate by Year
The current three-year CDR methodology begins with the FY2009 cohort. The national rate reached 14.7% for FY2010, then moved lower during the following cohorts. The later decline to 2.3% in FY2019 and 0.0% for FY2020 through FY2022 cannot be read as an ordinary continuation of the earlier trend because the federal payment pause prevented ED-held loans from entering default for much of those measurement periods. The FY2023 official rate increased to 0.4%, but Federal Student Aid states that this cohort also remained affected by the payment pause.
National Three-Year Student Loan Cohort Default Rate, FY2009–FY2023
Direct Loan and FFEL borrowers who entered repayment during each fiscal year and defaulted within the three-year CDR measurement window.
| Fiscal Year Cohort | Official National CDR |
|---|---|
| FY2009 | 13.4% |
| FY2010 | 14.7% |
| FY2011 | 13.7% |
| FY2012 | 11.8% |
| FY2013 | 11.3% |
| FY2014 | 11.5% |
| FY2015 | 10.8% |
| FY2016 | 10.1% |
| FY2017 | 9.7% |
| FY2018 | 7.3% |
| FY2019 | 2.3% |
| FY2020 | 0.0% |
| FY2021 | 0.0% |
| FY2022 | 0.0% |
| FY2023 | 0.4% |
National Three-Year Student Loan Cohort Default Rate
Official federal rate by repayment-entry fiscal year, FY2009 through FY2023.
FY 2023 Official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate and Federal Student Aid national cohort default rate series through FY2016.
Where the historical series changes meaning
- The national three-year CDR peaked at 14.7% for the FY2010 cohort.
- By FY2017, the rate was 9.7%, five percentage points below the FY2010 peak.
- The FY2019 rate fell to 2.3%, but that cohort’s measurement period overlapped the federal payment pause that began in March 2020.
- FY2020, FY2021, and FY2022 each produced a reported national CDR of 0.0% while ED-held borrowers were prevented from entering default during the payment pause.
- The FY2023 rate increased to 0.4%. Federal Student Aid cautions that the FY2023 results still present an unusually favorable picture because the payment pause affected the cohort’s default-measurement window.
Why the FY2023 Default Rate Is 0.4%
The FY2023 official national briefing reports 3,372,244 borrowers entering repayment and 14,296 borrowers counted in default. Dividing those published counts produces approximately 0.424%, a DebtData calculation. Federal Student Aid reports the official national rate to one decimal place as 0.4%.
The increase from FY2022 does not mean the FY2023 rate represents a normal post-pause repayment environment. The FY2023 cohort entered repayment between October 2022 and September 2023 and was observed for defaults through September 2025. Federal Student Aid cautions that the payment pause still affected the result because ED-held borrowers did not enter default during the pause.
FY2023 National Cohort Default Rate Calculation
Official national borrower counts reported by Federal Student Aid.
| Measure | FY2023 Value |
|---|---|
| Borrowers who entered repayment | 3,372,244 |
| Borrowers counted in default | 14,296 |
| Official national cohort default rate | 0.4% |
| Rate calculated directly from published counts | Approximately 0.424% |
What the June 2026 Portfolio Data Shows
Current federal portfolio data gives a different picture from the lagged FY2023 CDR. Federal Student Aid reported that more than 9.3 million recipients had $234 billion in outstanding federally managed student loans in default as of June 2026. The defaulted balance represented approximately 14% of the more than $1.64 trillion federally managed portfolio.
Federal Student Aid also reported that nearly 20% of recipients with loans in active repayment, about 3.5 million recipients, were more than 30 days delinquent. Approximately 1.5 million were in late-stage delinquency and at risk of entering the defaulted portfolio within the following six months. Measured by outstanding dollars, 15.7% of the active-repayment balance was 31 or more days delinquent.
Federal Student Loan Repayment and Default Measures, June 2026
Point-in-time federally managed portfolio measures. These statistics do not use the cohort default rate denominator.
| Measure | Value | Population or Denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Recipients in default | More than 9.3 million | Federally managed portfolio |
| Outstanding balance in default | $234 billion | Federally managed portfolio |
| Defaulted balance as share of portfolio | Approximately 14% | More than $1.64 trillion federally managed portfolio |
| Recipients 31+ days delinquent in active repayment | Nearly 20%, approximately 3.5 million | ED-serviced recipients with loans in active repayment |
| 31+ day delinquent balance | 15.7% | Balance of loans in active repayment |
| Late-stage delinquent recipients | Approximately 1.5 million | Recipients identified as at risk of default within six months |
The 0.4% FY2023 CDR and more than 9.3 million recipients in default as of June 2026 are not conflicting statistics. The first follows a specific repayment-entry cohort through a pandemic-affected three-year window. The second counts recipients in default across the federally managed portfolio at a later point in time.
Why Federal Student Aid Is Also Publishing Nonpayment Rates
Federal Student Aid continues to publish an institution-level nonpayment measure while official cohort default rates remain affected by pandemic-era repayment conditions. The measure covers Direct Loan borrowers who entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025 and examines whether their federal loans were more than 90 days delinquent.
In its September 30, 2026 FY2023 cohort default rate briefing, Federal Student Aid reported that approximately 1,800 institutions had nonpayment rates at or exceeding 25%, using borrower status data updated through August 2026. FSA said the measure can provide institutions with more current information about repayment outcomes while cohort default rates continue to reflect the payment-pause period.
A nonpayment rate is not a cohort default rate. More than 90 days delinquent does not by itself mean that a borrower has entered federal student loan default.
FY2023 Official Cohort Default Rates Are Now Published
Federal Student Aid distributed FY2023 official cohort default rate notification packages to eligible schools on September 28, 2026 and publicly released the rates on September 30. The official national rate is 0.4%.
The FY2023 cohort consists of borrowers who entered repayment from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023 and were tracked for defaults through September 30, 2025. Federal Student Aid states that the results should be interpreted with caution because the payment pause prevented borrowers with ED-held loans from entering default during part of the measurement period.
How Federal Cohort Default Rate Thresholds Affect Schools
The CDR is not only a descriptive statistic. Federal rules connect high institutional rates with default-prevention requirements and, at higher or repeated levels, participation in federal student aid programs.
Federal Institutional Cohort Default Rate Thresholds
Thresholds described in the 2026–27 Federal Student Aid Handbook.
| Institutional CDR | Federal Treatment |
|---|---|
| 30% or more for one year | School must establish a default prevention task force and submit a default prevention plan. |
| 30% or more for two consecutive years | School must submit a revised default prevention plan and may be placed on provisional certification. |
| 30% or more for three consecutive years | School loses eligibility for the Direct Loan and Federal Pell Grant programs, subject to applicable rules and appeals. |
| Greater than 40% for one year | School loses eligibility to participate in the Direct Loan Program, subject to applicable rules and appeals. |
Data Notes
- The historical table uses the federal three-year cohort default rate methodology beginning with FY2009. Earlier federal default-rate statistics used a different two-year measurement window and are not appended to this series.
- FY2019 through FY2023 should not be treated as a normal continuation of the earlier trend. Federal Student Aid states that these cohorts were affected by the pandemic payment pause, during which ED-held loans did not enter default.
- The FY2023 official CDR is reported as 0.4%. The approximately 0.424% figure shown above is a DebtData calculation using Federal Student Aid’s published counts of 14,296 defaults divided by 3,372,244 borrowers entering repayment.
- June 2026 portfolio counts are point-in-time measures. They should not be used as the numerator or denominator of the official three-year CDR.
- Recipient counts in Federal Student Aid portfolio reports can overlap across loan statuses because a person with loans in more than one status may appear in more than one status category.
- The institution-level nonpayment rate uses a different delinquency threshold, borrower cohort, and observation period from the official CDR. The September 30 FY2023 briefing reports approximately 1,800 institutions at or above a 25% nonpayment rate using data updated through August 2026.
Sources
- FY 2023 Official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate Briefing — Federal Student Aid, September 30, 2026; FY2023 cohort definition, payment-pause comparability warning, and August 2026 institution nonpayment-rate information.
- FY 2023 Official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate — Federal Student Aid; official 0.4% national CDR, 14,296 borrowers in default, 3,372,244 borrowers entering repayment, and FY2023 comparison with FY2022.
- National Student Loan Cohort Default Rates through FY2016 — Federal Student Aid; national FY2009–FY2016 three-year CDR series.
- National Default Rate Briefing for FY 2019 Official Cohort Default Rates — Federal Student Aid; FY2019 measurement period and effect of the federal payment pause.
- Federal Student Aid Posts Updated Reports to FSA Data Center — Federal Student Aid, September 22, 2026; federal portfolio, default, delinquency, repayment-status, and balance data through June 30, 2026.
- Audits, Standards, Limitations, & Cohort Default Rates — 2026–27 Federal Student Aid Handbook; CDR calculation period and institutional rate thresholds.
- Student Loan Default and Collections: FAQs — Federal Student Aid; federal student loan default definition and 270-day nonpayment threshold.
Cite This Page
DebtData.org. (2026). Student Loan Default Rate. https://debtdata.org/student-loan-default-rate/“Student Loan Default Rate.” DebtData.org, October 2, 2026, https://debtdata.org/student-loan-default-rate/.DebtData.org. “Student Loan Default Rate.” Last modified October 2, 2026. https://debtdata.org/student-loan-default-rate/.