WASHINGTON -- College students in Utah apparently have learned one lesson better than their counterparts in most other states: how to pay off their student loans.
Utah had the fifth-lowest default rate among the states, according to a report released Tuesday by the Education Department on students required to begin repayments in 1997.Utah's default rate was 6.1 percent -- or a third lower than the national average of 8.8 percent.
The only states with lower rates were North Dakota, 2.8 percent; South Dakota, 3.7 percent; Vermont, 4.2 percent; and Wisconsin, 5.4 percent.
The highest default rate among the states was 13.6 percent in Nevada.
Nationally, the default rate was the lowest since the federal government began calculating it in 1988. It is also the second straight year the rate has been below 10 percent -- down from 9.6 percent the previous year.
Education Secretary Richard Riley credited the lower rates to beefed-up federal efforts to collect from those who default, plus "the strength of the economy and the resulting low employment rate, which has made it easier for borrowers to repay their debt."
The highest default rate among Utah institutions of higher learning was 27.3 percent at the Sevier Valley Applied Technology Center in Richfield.
If institutions have default rates higher than 25 percent for three consecutive years, they may lose federal funding and eligibility for student loans. The Sevier Valley center was the only Utah institution with a rate that high for 1997.
Five Utah institutions had the lowest-possible default rates of 0 percent for 1997: Intermountain College of Court Reporting; Premier Hair Academy; Evans Hairstyling College; Francois D. Hair Design Academy; and Hairitage Hair Academy of St. George.
Among large institutions, Brigham Young University had the lowest default rate: 1.6 percent. Just 69 of the 4,332 students who had to begin repaying loans in 1997 defaulted.
The rates for other large institutions, from lowest to highest, were: Snow College and Utah State University, both 4.3 percent; University of Utah, 4.7 percent; Westminster College, 6.1 percent; Weber State University, 6.5 percent; Southern Utah University, 6.6 percent; Utah Valley State College, 7.0 percent; Salt Lake Community College, 9.4 percent; Dixie College, 11.2 percent; and College of Eastern Utah, 16.7 percent.
The rates at other institutions, from highest to lowest, include: Hairitage College of Beauty of Salt Lake City, 23.5 percent; Utah Career College and Mountain West College, both 23 percent; Stevens Henager College of Business, 17.8 percent; Von Curtis Academy of Hair Design, 17.6 percent; and International Institute of Hair Design, 13.9 percent.
Also, Beau La Reine College of Beauty Culture, 12.5 percent; Fran Brown College of Beauty, 12.3 percent; Certified Careers Institute, 11.2 percent; Utah College of Massage Therapy, 10.8 percent.
Also, ITT Technical Institute, 10.6 percent; Provo College, 8.2 percent; American Institute of Medical and Dental Technology, 8.1 percent; and LDS Business College and Myotherapy College of Utah, both 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the private College Board -- a nonprofit association of colleges -- released a separate study Tuesday saying college tuition and fees in 1999 increased less than 5 percent nationally, the lowest rate of increase in four years.
It said the average tuition and fees in the West at four-year public schools is now $2,708, up from $2,600 last year.
At two-year public schools in the West, average tuition and fees were $1,076, up from $1,053. And the average at four-year private schools was $15,078 -- up from $14,290.