President Hanbury’s Response to Article about Student Loan Debt

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article about student loan debt that reported students seeking graduate degrees to advance their careers, end up with tremendous loans to repay.

The article cited “just 20 universities are responsible for a huge share of graduate-student debt, amounting to more than $6.5 billion in a single year,” and listed NSU as one of the institutions receiving the most graduate student loan disbursements in 2013-14. The article can be read here.

NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., wrote the following response to the article.

Dear Editor:

Student loan debt is of great concern to me as president, as I am sure it is to all presidents. At Nova Southeastern University we do everything to keep tuition as low as possible and offer the quality education expected of a private selective research university of nearly 26,000 students, 80%, or approximately 21,000 of which are graduate and professional students. On a per student loan basis, we have made an examination of the average loan amount, versus per institution, revealing that there are more than 170 colleges and universities with higher average unsubsidized loan amounts per student and more than 180 with higher grad PLUS loans per student than NSU.

Our student debt burden is indeed large, and when NSU students feel they must borrow funds to assist them in paying for their education, they do so confidently because of our solid track record of professional job preparation and employment. In fact, NSU graduates have a loan default rate that is among the very lowest of any university in America, graduate or undergraduate, private or public, at just 3.5%! This supports that after completing rigorous academic programs, our graduates are getting jobs in professional careers sufficient enough to keep current with their student loans. Although we are just fifty years old, we’re seeking to build our endowment and expand research in an effort to attempt to offset rising tuition costs, just as older research universities have been able to do successfully in the past.

Unfortunately, your July 10^th article on graduate student debt, while dutifully reporting the contents of a study, omitted much of this important information and perspective. The discussion about graduate student debt needs to be in context with the academic programs offered at an institution, the total number of students, and the ability of the student to repay the loan after graduation.

The proof for NSU is indeed in the low default rate statistic, but also in the stories that our graduates tell. They are physicians, dentists, lawyers, college and university presidents, school system superintendents, government officials, chief officers of national companies, and one is the Vice President of a country; and the list goes on.

As the largest private, selective research university in Florida, the 2nd largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 10th largest in the nation, our value proposition is outstanding. We have been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as High Research and Community Engaged and NSU is also designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With our roots in graduate-level educational excellence, we are equally dedicated to research, and the betterment of our community, our nation, and our world. That, is the whole story.

Respectfully,

George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.

President and CEO

Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)