Student loan default rates have decreased, according to new data released by the Department of Education on Wednesday.

The percentage of borrowers who started repaying their federal student loans in fiscal year 2012 — and then defaulted — was 1.9 percent lower than those who started repaying in 2011, according a Department of Education press release.

In total, more than 5.1 million borrowers entered repayment in 2012 and about 611,000 of those defaulted on their federal student loans, according to the release.

“We should think of having zero (borrowers) default as an aspirational target,” Ted Mitchell, undersecretary of education, said on a press call with reporters on Wednesday.

The decline in student loan defaults was seen in all sectors including public, private and for-profit institutions, according to the release.

The federal student loan default rate for private, nonprofit universities like Syracuse University is 6.8 percent for those who entered repayment in 2012. That’s down from 7.2 percent the previous year.

Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, institutions with default rates equal to or higher than 30 percent are subject to sanctions from the federal government. This year, 12 for-profit universities and one private, nonprofit university are subject to sanctions, according to the release.

“The Obama Administration has taken historic steps to give borrowers more options to manage their student debt and stay on track to repayment and to hold institutions accountable for improving student outcomes,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the release.

Published on September 30, 2015 at 10:20 pm

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu