Press Release

DBRS Morningstar Finalizes Provisional Ratings on EDvestinU Private Education Loan Issue No. 4, LLC

Student Loans
September 29, 2022

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) finalized its provisional ratings on the following classes of notes issued by EDvestinU Private Education Loan Issue No. 4, LLC (NHHELCO 2022-A):

-- $161,750,000 Class A Notes rated AAA (sf)
-- $21,000,000 Class B Notes rated A (sf)

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

-- The transaction assumptions consider DBRS Morningstar’s baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereign economies, available in its commentary Baseline Macroeconomic Scenarios For Rated Sovereigns - September 2022 Update, published on September 19, 2022. These baseline macroeconomic scenarios replace DBRS Morningstar’s moderate and adverse COVID-19 pandemic scenarios, which were first published in April 2020.
-- The transaction’s form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement. Overcollateralization, subordination, reserve fund amounts, and excess spread create credit enhancement levels and liquidity that are commensurate with the ratings.
-- Transaction cash flows are sufficient to repay investors under all AAA (sf) and A (sf) stress scenarios in accordance with the terms of the EDvestinU No. 4 transaction documents.
-- The sequential pay structure.
-- The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers.
-- The capabilities of New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation (NHHELCO) with regard to originations and underwriting.
-- The ability of NHHELCO, as servicer, to perform collections on the collateral pool and other required activities.
-- The legal structure and legal opinions that are consistent with DBRS Morningstar’s “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance.”

The collateral securing NHHELCO 2022-A consists of private in-school student loans and student loan refinancings originated pursuant to the New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation’s EDvestinU Loan Program. New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation acts as servicer for 100% of the student loans. Nelnet Servicing, LLC acts as backup servicer.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/396929/dbrs-morningstar-criteria-approach-to-environmental-social-and-governance-risk-factors-in-credit-ratings.

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

The principal methodology is Rating U.S. Private Student Loan Securitizations (October 26, 2021), which can be found on dbrsmorningstar.com under Methodologies & Criteria.

The DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenarios as set forth in the following report: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings.

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

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

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at [email protected].

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