(a) General. This section describes the four steps that we follow to calculate and apply your cohort default rate for a fiscal year:

1. (1) First, under paragraph (b) of this section, we identify the borrowers in your cohort for the fiscal year. If the total number of borrowers in that cohort is fewer than 30, we also identify the borrowers in your cohorts for the 2 most recent prior fiscal years.
2. (2) Second, under paragraph (c) of this section, we identify the borrowers in the cohort (or cohorts) who are considered to be in default by the end of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year those borrowers entered repayment. If more than one cohort will be used to calculate your cohort default rate, we identify defaulted borrowers separately for each cohort.
3. (3) Third, under paragraph (d) of this section, we calculate your cohort default rate.

4. (4) Fourth, we apply your cohort default rate to all of your locations—

   1. (i) As you exist on the date you receive the notice of your official cohort default rate; and
   2. (ii) From the date on which you receive the notice of your official cohort default rate until you receive our notice that the cohort default rate no longer applies.

(b) Identify the borrowers in a cohort.

1. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, your cohort for a fiscal year consists of all of your current and former students who, during that fiscal year, entered repayment on any Federal Stafford loan, Federal SLS loan, Direct Subsidized loan, or Direct Unsubsidized loan that they received to attend your institution, or on the portion of a loan made under the Federal Consolidation Loan Program or the Federal Direct Consolidation Loan Program (as defined in 34 CFR 685.102) that is used to repay those loans.
2. (2) A borrower may be included in more than one of your cohorts and may be included in the cohorts of more than one institution in the same fiscal year.
3. (3) A TEACH Grant that has been converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan is not considered for the purpose of calculating and applying cohort default rates.

(c) Identify the borrowers in a cohort who are in default.

1. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, a borrower in a cohort for a fiscal year is considered to be in default if, before the end of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year the borrower entered repayment—

   1. (i) The borrower defaults on any FFELP loan that was used to include the borrower in the cohort or on any Federal Consolidation Loan Program loan that repaid a loan that was used to include the borrower in the cohort (however, a borrower is not considered to be in default unless a claim for insurance has been paid on the loan by a guaranty agency or by us);
   2. (ii) The borrower fails to make an installment payment, when due, on any Direct Loan Program loan that was used to include the borrower in the cohort or on any Federal Direct Consolidation Loan Program loan that repaid a loan that was used to include the borrower in the cohort, and the borrower's failure persists for 360 days (or for 270 days, if the borrower's first day of delinquency was before October 7, 1998);
   3. (iii) You or your owner, agent, contractor, employee, or any other affiliated entity or individual make a payment to prevent a borrower's default on a loan that is used to include the borrower in that cohort; or
   4. (iv) The borrower fails to make an installment payment, when due, on a Federal Stafford Loan that is held by the Secretary or a Federal Consolidation Loan that is held by the Secretary and that was used to repay a Federal Stafford Loan, if such Federal Stafford Loan or Federal Consolidation was used to include the borrower in the cohort, and the borrower's failure persists for 360 days.

2. (2) A borrower is not considered to be in default based on a loan that is, before the end of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which it entered repayment—

   1. (i) Rehabilitated under 34 CFR 682.405 or 34 CFR 685.211(e); or
   2. (ii) Repurchased by a lender because the claim for insurance was submitted or paid in error.

(d) Calculate the cohort default rate. Except as provided in § 668.203, if there are—

1. (1)

   1. (i) Thirty or more borrowers in your cohort for a fiscal year, your cohort default rate is the percentage that is calculated by—
   2. (ii) Dividing the number of borrowers in the cohort who are in default, as determined under paragraph (c) of this section by the number of borrowers in the cohort, as determined under paragraph (b) of this section.

2. (2)

   1. (i) Fewer than 30 borrowers in your cohort for a fiscal year, your cohort default rate is the percentage that is calculated by—

   2. (ii) Dividing the total number of borrowers in that cohort and in the two most recent prior cohorts who are in default, as determined for each cohort under paragraph (c) of this section by the total number of borrowers in that cohort and the two most recent prior cohorts, as determined for each cohort under paragraph (b) of this section.

      (Authority:20 U.S.C. 1070g, 1082, 1085, 1094, 1099c)