UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20202 September 2020 UNIVERSITY OF MONTEVALLO OPE ID: 001004 PALMER CIRCLE FY 2017 Cohort Default Rate: 7.7 MONTEVALLO, AL 35115-6000 SUBJECT: FISCAL YEAR 2017 OFFICIAL COHORT DEFAULT RATE Dear President: This letter serves as official notification of your school's fiscal year (FY) 2017 official cohort default rate (CDR) data. According to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA), Pub.L.109-71 and the Department of Education's (Department) regulations, your school is not subject to any sanctions based on your school's FY 2017 CDR. Schools with a cohort default rate of less than 15.0 percent for each of the three most recent fiscal years for which data are available, including eligible foreign schools, may disburse, in a single installment, loans that are made for one semester, one trimester, one quarter, or a four-month period. Such a school is also no longer required to delay the delivery or disbursement of the first disbursement of a loan for 30 days for first-time, first-year undergraduate borrowers. Once your school receives notice from the Department that your school's official CDR is 15.0 percent or greater, this benefit will end within 30 calendar days of the notification. For schools that have one or more borrowers that entered into repayment during the FY 2017 period, the accompanying loan record detail report (LRDR) includes information on the loans made to students for attendance at your school under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and/or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. The Department's records indicate that all the loans included in the report entered into repayment during the FY 2017 period that includes October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017 and defaulted by September 30, 2019. After reviewing your official LRDR, your school has the opportunity to appeal and or adjust the underlying data included in your CDR. Schools must submit their Loan Servicing Appeal, Uncorrected Data Adjustment and New Data Adjustment requests using the electronic Cohort Default Rate Appeals system (eCDR Appeals). Specifically, the system allows schools to electronically submit these challenges and adjustment requests during the cohort default rate cycle. Likewise, data managers and Federal Student Aid (FSA) can electronically view and respond to the submitted challenges and adjustment requests accordingly. Due to COVID 19, schools are being asked to submit their Participation Rate Appeal, Economically Disadvantaged Appeal, and Erroneous Data Appeal via email to the Department to the email address provided below. Please note that if a technical problem caused by the Department results in an inability to access the data, schools have five business days from the receipt of the eCDR notification package to notify Partner Eligibility and Oversight (PEO) services at the email address given below. All schools must meet the established submission timeframes for CDR adjustments and appeals. The Department will not review adjustments and appeals that any school submits outside of the established timeframes. If you have any questions about your FY 2017 official school CDR review process, please refer to our frequently asked questions at https://ifap.ed.gov/dm/faq . If you have further questions you may refer to the Cohort Default Rate Guide (CDRG) or contact the PEO at (202) 377-4259 or via email at fsa.schools.default.management@ed.gov . You may also visit our website https://ifap.ed.gov/dm where you may find the CDRG which is a primary reference source for schools to understand the cohort default rates and processes. Sincerely, Marcus DeCosta Director, Cohort Default Rates Group Partner Eligibility and Oversight Services Deborah Harry, Executive Officer, Partner Participation and Oversight Special note for schools with 29 or fewer borrowers entering repayment for the FY 2017 period: Please refer to page 2 of the CDRG for information regarding the average rate formula and calculation.