A cohort default rate (CDR) is an accountability metric for US colleges that are eligible for federal Pell Grants and student loans. It measures the percentage of a school's borrowers who enter repayment on federal student loans during a federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) and default in the next three years. The United States Department of Education (ED) releases official cohort default rates once per year. Schools that have a CDR above 30% for three consecutive years or above 40% for one year lose access to federal student loans and Pell Grants. History of the cohort default rate The cohort default rate was initiated in the late 1980s as a way of drawing attention to institutions that were thought to be preying on low-income students who might have trouble re-paying their loans. There had been a burst of trade schools in cities with large minority populations and low-income residents who tried to build enrollment by encouraging academically under-qualified students to apply for loans that they would be unlikely to be able to repay, especially if they received a substandard education. The cohort default rate plan was that institutions with abnormally high default rates would be identified and held accountable for their actions. These institutions would lose access to federal grants and loans after having a cohort default rate that exceeded the national average by 30% for three years, or 40% in one year. The goal was that fraudulent schools would be weeded out and all institutions would be forced to look at student education debt more seriously. Problems with the cohort default rate The idea worked at first, as hundreds of illegitimate trade schools closed. However, some college leaders argued that default rate provisions were endangering legitimate colleges that served low-income students who needed loans to pay for their education. Other criticisms have been raised as well. The cohort default rate only tracks a portion of borrowers –- those who default within the first three years of repayment. The short monitoring period can make the measure vulnerable to manipulation by schools. In 2018, the GAO, a government watchdog, found that schools may use tactics to delay their students' default. Some schools hired third-party companies to encourage borrowers to put their loans into forbearance (which pause required payments) during the first three years of repayment. While these forbearances did not prevent defaults, they ensured many borrowers' defaulted on