DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to College Ave Student Loans 2017-A, LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned provisional ratings to the following classes of notes issued by College Ave Student Loans 2017-A, LLC (College Ave 2017-A):

-- $95,320,000 Class A-1 at A (sf)
-- $43,470,000 Class A-2 at A (sf)
-- $10,760,000 Class B at BBB (sf)
-- $11,340,000 Class C at BB (sf)

The $160.9 million College Ave 2017-A transaction represents the first asset-backed security (ABS) transaction sponsored by College Avenue Student Loans, LLC (College Ave).

The provisional ratings are based on DBRS’s review of the following analytical considerations:

-- The transaction’s form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
-- Transaction cash flows are sufficient to repay investors under all A (sf), BBB (sf) and BB (sf) stress scenarios in accordance with the terms of the College Ave 2017-A transaction documents.
-- The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers.
-- Structural features of the transaction that require the Notes to enter into full turbo principal amortization if certain minimum parity levels are not maintained.
-- College Ave’s capabilities with regard to originations and underwriting.
-- The ability of the Servicer to perform collections on the collateral pool and other required activities.
-- The benefits offered by the existence of a backup servicer, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
-- The legal structure and expected legal opinions that will address the true sale of the student loans, the non-consolidation of the trust, that the trust has a valid first-priority security interest in the assets and the consistency with the DBRS “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance” methodology.

College Ave 2017-A will use a traditional pass-through structure with credit enhancement consisting of overcollateralization, a reserve account, a capitalized interest account, subordination provided by the Class B Notes and Class C Notes for the benefit of the Class A Notes, subordination provided by the Class C Notes for the benefit of the Class B Notes and excess spread. Principal payments to the Notes, once required overcollateralization targets are met, will be paid on a pro rata basis. The Notes will be primarily secured by a single pool of student loans that includes both variable-rate loans and fixed-rate loans.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology is Rating U.S. Private Student Loan Securitizations, which can be found on dbrs.com under Methodologies.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process. DBRS had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities.

Please see the attached appendix for additional information regarding sensitivity of assumptions used in the rating process.

The full report providing additional analytical detail is available by clicking on the link under Related Research at the right of the screen or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.