What Accounts for Gaps in Student Loan Default, and What Happens After

In a previous Evidence Speaks report, the author described the high rates at which student loan borrowers default on their repayment within 12 years of initial college entry, often on relatively modest amounts of debt. One of the most striking patterns emerging from that report and other prior work is how dramatically default rates vary by institution sector and by race/ethnicity: black, non-Hispanic entrants and for-profit entrants experience default at much higher rates than other students. In this report, the author uses the same source of data to examine whether these disparities in default rates can be explained by other factors. I also examine what happens after a default, and whether this also varies by race or institution sector.