Cedarville, UD have lowest student loan default rates in area

Cedarville University and the University of Dayton students have the lowest student loan default rates of any area college, according to a new database of default rates from the Student Loan Report, a student loan news website.

The database ranks colleges based on their average default rate. Cedarville students fared better than anyone else in the area with an average default rate of 2 percent, the 12th lowest in the state, while UD students came in at 13th with a default rate of 2.15 percent.

Eight of 10 area universities had default rates lower than the state average of 13.61 percent, according to the database. Ohio has the 41st lowest default rate.

Area community colleges had higher default rates than most nearby four-year universities. In some cases, their default rate was more than double or triple the rate of area university students.

The area school with the highest default rate was Central State University.

CSU students ranked 210 in Ohio and had the third highest default rate of any university or college in the state. Around 29.52 percent of CSU students on average defaulted on their loans.

Below is a complete ranking of area universities and community colleges, according to the report:

Area universities

12. Cedarville University, 2 percent

13. University of Dayton, 2.15 percent

24. Xavier University, 3.14 percent

31. Wittenberg University, 3.95 percent

47. Ohio State, 5 percent

75. University of Cincinnati, 7.63 percent

83. Wright State, 8.27 percent

97. Miami University, 9.3 percent

145. Wilberforce University, 15.02 percent

210. Central State, 29.52 percent