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The national default rate for Parent PLUS loans has nearly tripled in recent years, but it remains well below the

default rates for other federal student loans, according to data released for the

rst time last week by the U.S.

Department of Education.

Of all parent borrowers whose PLUS loans entered repayment in the 2010

scal year, the data show, 5.1

percent were in default three years later. That

gure has risen steadily from the 1.8 percent default rate for the

cohort of borrowers in the 2006

scal year.

Breaking down the 2010

gure by type of institution, for-pro

t colleges had the highest default rate, at 13.3

percent, compared with 3.4 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, at private nonpro

t and public institutions.

The data do not distinguish between two- and four-year institutions or types of degree.

The release of new information about the performance of PLUS loans comes as the department is considering

changes to the eligibility criteria for such loans. In 2011, the Education Department touched off a wave of

controversy when it tightened the standards (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/10/12/standards-

tightening-federal-plus-loans) for those loans, which led to large numbers of students and their families being

denied PLUS loans.