The cost of student loan defaults is a growing problem. At the beginning of this century, defaulted student loans exceed $25 billion (Student Aid News, 2001). In addition to the costs borne by the taxpayer as the federal government purchases defaulted accounts, there are costs incurred by schools, lenders, loan servicers, and guaranty agencies for default prevention efforts and collection of defaulted loans. Two separate studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of an early intervention program--the Advocate Unit--in reducing borrower defaults. The first compared the default rate for students participating in the Advocate Unit to the default rate for a sample of the general population of active student borrowers. The results from Study 1 provided strong evidence of the positive effects that an early intervention program can have on the default behavior of student borrowers. Study 2 assessed the longitudinal effects of participation in the Advocate Unit on the default behavior of student borrowers. Although the results from the longitudinal study support the effectiveness of early intervention, the size of the effect is relatively small. The implications of the findings and future areas for research are discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)