Regents say student loan default rate down

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- The default rate on student loans in Oklahoma is continuing a downward trend.

The Oklahoma State Regents say the 1998 default rate for loans guaranteed by the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program was the lowest in eight years.

The regents say the 1998 default rate of seven-point-nine percent is a drop of more than three-and-a-half percent from 1997.

The loan program's executive director, Glendon Forgey, says program officials have been working with schools and lending institutions in an effort to prevent student loan defaults.

Chancellor Hans Brisch says the volume of student loans in Oklahoma has grown from more than $224 million in 1994 to more than $336 million in 2000.