Jan 03, 2018

Question of the Day: What percent of students who default (fail to repay) their student loans have bachelor’s degrees?

Answer: About 1%

Here's the pie chart with the figures:

Questions: 

  • What percent of loans in default are held by students who started college but did not earn a degree?
  • If you had to summarize to a friend in one sentence, what is one tip for avoiding defaulting on a student loan?
  • Is this statement supported by the data in the pie chart: “Only 1.1% of students who earned a bachelor’s degree defaulted?” Why or why not?
  • How do you think this data might have changed since 2009?

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Interested in delving into this topic further, check out this NY Times article

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Play NGPF's new game, PAYBACK, to immerse your students in the money decisions they will be making while in college. 

 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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