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Research papers on Student loan debt

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  1. A Crisis in Student Loans?: How Changes in the Characteristics of Borrowers and in the Institutions They Attended Contributed to Rising Loan Defaults

    Adam Looney, Constantine Yannelis · 2015 · Brookings Papers on Economic Activity · 276 citations

    This paper examines the rise in student loan default and delinquency.It draws on a unique set of administrative data on federal student borrowing matched to earnings records from de-identified tax records.Most of the increase in default is associated with borrowers at for-profit schools, 2-year institutions, and certain other nonselective institutions.Historically, students at these institutions have constituted a small share of all student borrowers.These nontraditional borrowers have largely come from lower-income families, attended institutions with relatively weak educational outcomes, faced poor labor market outcomes after leaving school, and defaulted at high rates.In contrast, default

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  2. Debt burden after college: the effect of student loan debt on graduates’ employment, additional schooling, family formation, and home ownership

    Erin Dunlop Velez, Melissa Cominole, Alexander Bentz · 2018 · Education Economics · 51 citations

    This paper measures the effects of undergraduate student loan debt on graduates’ post-college outcomes: employment, additional enrollment, family formation, home ownership, and net worth. The analysis uses data from a nationally representative sample of 2007–08 bachelor’s degree recipients. Because a graduate’s debt burden is not randomly assigned, we use an instrumental variable – enrollment-weighted average in-state tuition over four years – to estimate the effect of debt on post-baccalaureate outcomes while minimizing selection bias. We find that four years after graduating, undergraduate debt is related to borrowers’ earnings, job choice, decisions to marry and have children, and net wor

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  3. Job Search under Debt: Aggregate Implications of Student Loans

    Yan Ji · 2020 · Journal of Monetary Economics · 42 citations

    This paper evaluates the implication of student loan debt on labor market outcomes. I begin by developing a tractable theoretical framework to analytically demonstrate that individuals under the burden of debt tend to search less and end up with lower-paid jobs. I then develop and estimate a quantitative search model with risk-averse agents, on-the-job search, and vacancy creation using NLSY97 data to evaluate the proposed mechanism. My model suggests that, under the standard fixed repayment plan, borrowers’ consumption is reduced due to debt repayment and lower wage income. The latter indirect effect caused by inadequate job search is potentially larger and more persistent than the direct e

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  6. Student Loans and the Dynamics of Debt

    Brad J. Hershbein, Kevin M. Hollenbeck · 2015 · 27 citations

    The papers included in this volume represent the most current research and knowledge available about student loans and repayment. It serves as a valuable reference for researchers and policymakers who seek a deeper understanding of how, why, and which students borrow for their postsecondary education; how this borrowing may affect later decisions; and what measures can help borrowers repay their loans successfully.

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  7. Impact of Service-Based Student Loan Repayment Program on the Primary Care Workforce

    Caitlin Davis, Peter Meyers, A. Bazemore, et al. · 2023 · Annals of Family Medicine · 17 citations

    PURPOSE As the average level of medical education indebtedness rises, physicians look to programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) to manage debt burden. Both represent service-dependent loan repayment programs, but the requirements and program outcomes diverge, and assessing the relative uptake of each program may help to inform health workforce policy decisions. We sought to describe variation in the composition of repayment program participant groups and measure relative impact on patient access to care. METHODS In this bivariate analysis, we analyzed data from 10,677 respondents to the American Board of Family Medicine’s National Gra

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  9. The burden of student loan debt: differences in socioeconomic background and attitudes towards higher education

    Kazuhisa Furuta · 2023 · British Journal of Sociology of Education · 11 citations

    Abstract Increased reliance on student loans to finance higher education (HE) raises concerns about unequal access and repayment burdens. However, who borrows and what motivates students and parents to borrow remain unclear. A longitudinal survey tracked parents and students from high school into their early career to explore the effects of socioeconomic background and attitudes towards HE on taking out student loans in Japan. The findings reveal that, first, families’ economic circumstances are negatively associated with taking out student loans. Second, students, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, may choose a two-year rather than four-year institution to reduce debt. T

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  10. Student Loan Debt: Can Parental College Savings Help?

    William Elliott, Melinda Lewis, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, et al. · 2014 · Canadian Parliamentary Review · 9 citations

    Postsecondary education costs in the United States today are rising with an increasing shift from societal responsibility to individual burden, thereby driving greater student borrowing. Evidence suggests that (i) such student debt may have undesirable educational effects and potentially jeopardize household balance sheets and (ii) student loans may better support educational attainment and economic mobility if accompanied by other, non-repayable financial awards. However, given declines in need-based aid and falling state support for postsecondary costs, policymakers and parents alike have failed to produce a compelling complement to debt-dependent financial aid that is capable of improving

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  11. The Impact of Student Loan Debt on Civic Engagement: Evidence from the College and Beyond II Dataset

    Osasohan Agbonlahor · 2025 · Education Sciences · 7 citations

    This study examines the relationship between student loan debt and civic engagement among college graduates, with particular attention to differential effects by field of study. Drawing on data from the College and Beyond II dataset, this research analyzes how varying levels of debt burden impact political and community participation among 1673 graduates, including 1059 liberal arts majors and 614 graduates from professional, STEM, and other fields. Employing OLS regression models with multiple measures of debt burden and distinct dimensions of civic engagement, this study finds that both medium and high levels of student loan debt (USD 201–500 monthly and >USD 500 monthly) are associated wi

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  13. In Debt: Student Loan Burdens Among Teachers

    Emma García, Wesley Wei, Susan Kemper Patrick, et al. · 2023 · 5 citations

    This report analyzes data from the National Teacher and Principal Survey from 2020–21. It describes the state of student loan borrowing and repayment among full-time, public school teachers and explores whether student loan burdens differ by teacher characteristics. The analyses also examine the extent to which student loan debt is associated with teachers’ well-being and employment decisions. The report concludes with recommendations that support the expansion of programs that alleviate or minimize the costs of comprehensive teacher preparation and credentialing; improve teaching conditions; and promote high-quality preparation, career advancement, and retention.

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  14. Gender and Loans: Understanding Differences in Student Debt Burden

    Rong Chen, Katie N. Smith · 2023 · Journal of Student Financial Aid · 5 citations

    Based on combined data from Baccalaureate & Beyond (B&B:16/17), Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, this study utilizes zero-inflated beta regression methods and analyzes individual and institutional factors that predict debt burden by gender. Results show that women are less likely than men to have a zero debt burden one year after college graduation. Interaction effect tests show that the relationship between gender and zero debt burden differs by race/ethnicity. Additional analyses disaggregating the debt and earnings components indicate that women’s salary is significantly lower than men’s. The combined results of lower prob

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  15. Graduating During the Great Recession: The Effects of Student Loan Debt on Early Career Labor Market Outcomes and Graduate School Enrollment

    A. Bernasek, Melanie G. Long · 2021 · Journal of Economic Issues · 4 citations

    Abstract: Total U.S. student loan debt has grown substantially, raising concerns about its impacts. Previous work has suggested that indebted graduates pursue higher-wage careers. However, other trade-offs are possible in adverse economic conditions. Graduates may reduce search effort or hold multiple low-wage jobs to enable debt repayment. This article assesses student debt’s impacts on the outcomes of U.S. bachelor’s degree recipients entering the labor market during the 2008 Recession. We find that indebted students graduating into a recession face the repayment burden with wages that are no higher than average and are less or no more likely to enroll in graduate school.

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  18. The Effect of Student Loan Payment Burdens on Borrower Outcomes

    Tomás Monarrez, Lesley Turner · 2024 · Working paper · 3 citations

    Rising student loan debt and concerns over unaffordable payments provide a rationale for the broad class of "income-driven repayment" (IDR) plans for federal student loans.These plans aim to protect borrowers from delinquency, default, and resulting financial consequences by linking payments to income and providing forgiveness after a set repayment period.We estimate the causal effect of IDR payment burdens on loan repayment and schooling outcomes for several cohorts of first-time IDR applicants using a regression discontinuity design.Federal student loan borrowers who are not required to make payments see short-run reductions in delinquency and default risk, but these effects fade or revers

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  19. Second Chance: Life with Less Student Debt

    Marco Di Maggio, Ankit Kalda, Vincent Yao · 2025 · The Journal of Finance · 2 citations

    We exploit an episode of plausibly random debt discharge due to the loss of paperwork for thousands of defaulted borrowers to examine the effects of private student debt relief on borrower outcomes. We find that borrowers who receive debt relief (treated) experience declines in debt balances and delinquency rates on other accounts, and increases in mobility and income relative to those who bear the costs of default like wage garnishment and collections (control). Borrowers in both groups contribute to our findings through different mechanisms. While our estimates may not directly apply to blanket student loan forgiveness, they speak to the benefits of forgiveness in reducing the conseq

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  21. Delayed Dreams: How Student Loan Debt Shapes Family Formation and Homeownership Among Liberal Arts Graduates

    Osasohan Agbonlahor · 2025 · International Journal of Education, Culture and Society · 1 citations

    This study examines how educational debt burden influences homeownership and family formation outcomes among college graduates, with particular attention to differences between liberal arts and other disciplines. Drawing on data from the College and Beyond II dataset, which tracks long-term outcomes of higher education, the analysis examines how varying levels of student debt burden and debt-to-income ratios affect the likelihood of homeownership, marriage, and having children. Using logistic regression models with a sample of 1,673 college graduates, the findings show that student loan debt significantly reduces the probability of homeownership across all graduates, with even low debt burde

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  22. AI-Based Predicting Post-Graduation Earnings and Student Loan Debt Burden in Educational Institutions

    T. R, Akriti Saigal, Aditya Relan, et al. · 2026 · ITM Web of Conferences

    Student and institution-level and policy-level assessments of higher education financial outcomes are important. This study introduces students to a machine-learning approach to predicting after-college earnings and student loan debts based on the College Scorecard "Field of Study" dataset for institutional and program-level information. The workflow consists of two core components: Preprocessing & Feature Engineering, as well as Leakage Prevention & Regression-based Predictive Modeling, all wrapped around a "Smart Predictor" deployment-ready app. A range of financial indicators such as Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio and Return-on-Investment (ROI) are included, for enhancing interpretability and

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  24. A Rescue or a Trap?—An Analysis of Parent PLUS Student Loans

    Wen-Hua Di, Carla Fletcher, J. Webster · 2022 · Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Working Papers

    Parents taking out loans for their children’s college educations may face an excessive debt burden that jeopardizes their own financial security. This paper examines the experience of Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) borrowers using administrative data from a large student loan guaranty agency. We find that PLUS borrowers are more likely to default if their children attend low-resource institutions, typically ones where lower-income enrollments predominate. Although parent PLUS generally outperforms student loans, PLUS performance is sensitive to program costs during difficult economic times. In contrast, student outcomes depend more on educational outcomes. Interviews with borr

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