A Cohort Default Rate (CDR) represents the percentage of a school's federal student loan borrowers who default on their loans within a defined three-year period after entering repayment. It serves as a key accountability measure used to evaluate the performance of both Federal Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program portfolios.
Cohort Default Rates by Fiscal Year
| Cohort Fiscal Year | National | Illinois Tech |
| 2022* | 0 | 0 |
| 2021* | 0 | 0 |
| 2020* | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2.3% | .8% |
| 2018 | 7.3% | 1.9% |
| 2017 | 9.7% | 2.9% |
*Due to the Federal pause on repayment for Title IL loans, the official National Student Loan Cohort Default Rate for 2020, 2021, and 2022 are 0.0%.