In enacting the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, the Congress changed Section 435(a)(5) of the act to lift the exemption for cohort default rates that were established for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Navajo Colleges in 1990. The new provisions became effective July 1, 1999. To maintain Title IV eligibility, HBCUs were required to meet three conditions, per Department of Education regulations: (1) Submitting a default management plan to be approved by the Secretary of Education; (2) Hiring an Independent Third Party Consultant (ITPC); and (3) Demonstrating improvement in default rates and successful implementation of the approved default management plan. In June 1999, with the statutory deadline for submitting approved default management plans quickly approaching, it became apparent that not all Texas HBCUs would be able to meet the July deadline. Under the leadership of Huston-Tillotson College, the affected HBCUs agreed to meet in Austin to establish a formal Consortium, the purpose of which was to pool their collective resources and experiences to ensure that all affected HBCUs met the deadline. The founding members of the Consortium included the following affected HBCUs: Huston-Tillotson College, Texas College, Wiley College, Paul Quinn College, Jarvis Christian College, and Southwestern Christian College. These colleges are primarily liberal arts, faith-based, degree-granting institutions. At the onset, members of the Consortium discovered that they shared multiple challenges in their respective efforts to meet the new requirements. These challenges included: (1) A lack of full campus support; (2) Training needs; (3) Changes in Administration; and (4) Changing Focus. In the summer of 2001, having met its primary objective, the Consortium agreed to expand its membership to include the remaining Texas HBCUs and broaden its focus to include student retention and career planning components. The invitation was accepted by Prairie View A&M University. Moreover, the Consortium created two subcommittees to focus specifically on student retention and career planning, and invited the appropriate campus offices to send representatives to Consortium meetings. Using this partnership and with the support of TG and the lending community, each participating HBCU successfully reduced its cohort rate.