This document is intended to help institutions of postsecondary education understand their rights and responsibilities relating to school cohort default rates for the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL)Program. Section 1 focuses on the calculation of FY 1993 official cohort default rates including how student loan activity is tracked and reported, what student loans are included, how a loan's status affects the calculation, and cohort periods by fiscal year. Section 2 explains consequences of official cohort default rates. It covers default management requirements for all schools and consequences of default rates from less than 20 percent to more than 40 percent. Section 3 focuses on loss of FFEL program eligibility and the actions an institution in this situation should take. Section 4 details the FFEL appeal process such as conditions for filing an appeal, retaining program eligibility during the appeal process, and exceptional mitigating circumstances. Section 6 gives guidelines for appeals of high default rates based on allegations of improper loan servicing and collection. Sections 7 and 8 are on requesting back-up data and using the back-up data in the appeal process. Section 9 lists contacts at the Department of Education regarding default rate issues. (DB)