ESCANABA — Bay College’s three-year student loan default rate has declined recently. Director of Financial Aid Ruth Carlson spoke about factors that played a role in the rate’s decrease.

“Student loan debt has become a national concern, and we understand that concern and have put forth the effort to work with students … to reduce the overall borrowing and (increase) repayment of student loans,” Carlson said.

Bay was notified by the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 24 that its three-year default rate for the 2017 student cohort was 15.5 percent. This marked a decrease of six points from the 2016 cohort’s default rate of 21.5 percent, and is the college’s lowest rate of at least the past seven years.

According to Carlson, default rates are based on the number of students that go into repayment on their loans in a given calendar year.

“They’re monitored for three years, and those that go into default during that timeframe make up the rate,” she said.

Carlson said Bay has been actively working to reduce its default rates since 2013. The college’s efforts on this front have included:

– requiring students to look up their debt before borrowing more money.

– reaching out to students as they go into repayment via letters, phone calls and emails.

– running informational campaigns focusing on student loans.

Along with these actions, Bay has been working with a loan servicer.

“We also partner with Great Lakes to work with students who are delinquent on their loans,” Carlson said.

Since students are monitored for three years, the college was only able to begin measuring the impact of the steps it took to lower its default rates a few years ago.

“We’re just now starting to see the effects of that work over the last two years,” Carlson said.

In addition to Bay’s efforts, Carlson said recent economic conditions have helped the college lower its default rates.

“I also think that, as the economy has grown, that has helped the job market … which does lead towards the repayment of student loans,” she said.