Default Rates High at Local Schools

Students from four Ventura County schools are among the nation’s worst at paying back government loans, according to figures released by the U. S. Department of Education.

But local officials say the government’s numbers are skewed.

Oxnard College joined two area beauty schools and a business college this week on a list of 900 institutions whose students failed to repay government loans more than 30% of the time.

Schools with 30% default rates for three consecutive years can lose their eligibility to make loans.

But some school officials have already stopped offering the student loans.

A financial aid officer at Oxnard College said an internal audit put the percentage of defaults at 11%. “It might be as high as 17%, but it’s going to be well below the 33% they cited,” Lois Denardo said.

Denardo said she notified the government in May that she no longer wanted the college to issue loans.

“We didn’t want (defaults) to jeopardize our ability to continue in federal grant and work study programs,” she said.

The government frequently classifies loans that are not yet due as in default, said Cathy Vasek, who owns Lu Ross Academy of Hair in Ventura.

“It’s a barrage of inaccurate paperwork,” said Vasek, whose school was listed with a default rate of 43.2%. “My real default loan rate is more like 20% or 25%.”

Vasek said she no longer pursues guaranteed loans for her students.

“I don’t want to deal with the government bureaucracy,” she said. “It’s too much trouble.”

The percentage of unpaid loans at Sawyer College in Ventura was listed at 31.7%, while the defunct Oxnard Beauty College checked in at 34%, according to the government list.