NIU students are no different than their other Illinois college counterparts when it comes to defaulting on loans.

Loan default rates at NIU have remained at a “good low rate” of 4.3 percent for a while, said Jerry Augsburger, Student Financial Aid Office director.

“The big problem remains in the proprietary institutions that are for profit and that train for a specific employment,” Augsburger said. “These default rates can be as high as 70 to 80 percent.”

A student is declared in default if a payment has not been made within six months.

He said institutions owned specifically for profit mainly contribute to the rate as a whole and NIU, and other four-year institutions like it, are just a “piece of the pie” of the default rate.

Federal Education Department officials reported default rates for federal student loans fell in 1988 by almost 2 percent but these figures are “questionable,” Augsburger said.

Most of the decline in the federal loan default rate could be the result of the federal department’s changes in calculating figures, he said.

Recently the Student Loan Default Bill was proposed in the state legislature. If passed, students who fail to repay the Illinois Student Assistance Commission or have a delinquent or defaulted student loan might have their driver’s license or license to practice a profession suspended.

In Illinois, when students fill out federal income tax information they also give loan information, Augsburger said.

In the last three to four years, tax refunds could be intercepted and used for repaying defaulted student loans, he said.