AUGUSTA – Maine is in the middle of the pack nationally for its rate of borrowers who default on their college loans, a report issued Wednesday by the federal Department of Education said.

Nationally, about 5.6 percent of the borrowers defaulted on their loans in 1999. The rate in Maine, where 612 borrowers had neglected to pay back certain loans included in the department’s review, is 5.5 percent.

The nation’s highest rate was in Alaska, 11.7 percent. North Dakota had the lowest default rate in the nation, 1.8 percent.

Compared with the rest of New England, Maine’s default was on the high side. The rate in New Hampshire was 2.2 percent, Vermont 3.1 percent, Massachusetts 4.3 percent, Connecticut 4.6 percent and Rhode Island 5.7 percent.

Within Maine, default rates were far lower among borrowers in private colleges than those in the state university system, according to the government’s report.

Rates at Bowdoin and Colby colleges were 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, while Bates borrowers’ rates were slightly higher at 1.6 percent.

Within the University of Maine System, default rates ranged from 3.2 percent among advanced degree students at Orono to highs of 12.4 percent at Presque Isle and 12.8 percent at the Augusta campus.

The rates reflect loans to borrowers who attended 6,700 schools that participated in the Family Federal Education Loan Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.

Schools with excessive default rates of 25 percent or higher for three consecutive years are barred from participating in loan programs.

The Education Department noted that the national default rate in fiscal ’99, the latest year for which figures are available, was the lowest since defaults were first tracked in 1989. However, the total value of loans defaulted has more than doubled during the last eight years from $12 billion to $25 billion.

Education Secretary Rod Page said the low default rate reflected an effort by the schools to raise borrowers’ awareness of their obligations, track delinquencies and counsel borrowers who get behind on their payments.