Burgeoning student debt and the ability of programs to adequately prepare students for jobs that will allow them to repay that debt comprise a topic of great interest in the current higher education policy environment. A key accountability measure used by the Department of Education for more than two decades has been the student loan cohort default rate (CDR), which measures the percentage of an institution's student borrowers who default on their federal student loans. Mohave Community College (MCC) had the sixth highest CDR for two-year public institutions for the FY2009 cohort at 36.7%. At risk of losing all federal financial aid eligibility, the institution underwent an impressive transformation in just 3 years, during which time MCC decreased the CDR by 8 percentage points through a combination of challenges and appeals, outreach, financial literacy, and student success efforts. MCC was able to achieve successful transformation through a top-down leadership strategy that included open communication and empowerment.