Over the past 30 years, a shift occurred in higher education that saw more of the burden for paying for postsecondary education placed on students. Combined with rising tuition and fees, this has led students to take on increasing amounts of student debt. Despite the historic rise in student loans, surprisingly little attention has focused on…

The rising cost of higher education has led to increased tuition costs for students and their families, forcing more students to secure larger amounts of debt to finance their educational pursuits. Although scholars have explored how student loan debt accumulation influences higher education persistence and graduation, an unexplored area of higher…

Community colleges serve more than a significant proportion of Americans who could not otherwise attend colleges by providing access to fulfill their educational goals. Many of the students enrolled in the institutions look to the federal government to finance their educational expenses by obtaining federally guaranteed student loans. The…

"Fault Lines in Borrowing: Academic Outcomes of Students in Default" examines factors influencing and influenced by loan defaults among students at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. The findings demonstrate that loan defaults and their harsh penalties are strongly associated with poorer academic persistence and completion. The paper…

In 2014, ACCT and TICAS partnered to examine student loan default at nine community colleges and explore administrative practices aimed at addressing students' default risks. At each college, we analyzed cohort default rate data and uncovered notable trends and populations at higher risk, identified default-reduction strategies the college was…

Student loan borrowing for higher education has emerged as a top policy concern. Policy makers at the institutional, state, and federal levels have pursued a variety of strategies to inform students about loan origination processes and how much a student has cumulatively borrowed, and to provide students with greater access to loan counseling. We…

In this study, we examine whether institutional-level characteristics, student demographics, and state conditions are associated with student loan repayment rates and cohort-level loan default rates. We separately explore these characteristics for each of four higher education sectors: public 2-year colleges, for-profit colleges, public 4-year…

This brief examines the impact of using a system based on multiple metrics that requires institutions to pass three out of four thresholds for student loan default, student loan repayment, program completion, and postcollege earnings. Currently, a very high loan default rate is the only student outcome that disqualifies institutions from the…

The cost of post-secondary education (PE) continues to increase, which has contributed to elevating federal loan demand, and as of the fourth quarter of 2020, equaling a debt of $1.56 trillion in the US. The purpose of this research was to compare two post-secondary institutions for specific alignment with the local labor market, examine…

All students deserve to attend programs and institutions that meet high quality standards. But different program goals, investments of time, and eligibility criteria make it difficult to set specific standards that will apply equally well to all types of programs and institutions. This report sets out principles for developing an accountability…

The widespread notion of a general student debt "crisis" creates an exaggerated image of the problems associated with borrowing for college and diverts attention from the serious difficulties some students and former students face. A disproportionate amount of attention goes to the $1.5 trillion dollars in outstanding student debt.…

What do state policies say about how to fund postsecondary education? This 50-State Comparison answers this question by searching state statutes, state rules and regulations, enacted state budget bills, and state postsecondary education agency policies that address postsecondary education budgeting and funding. According to the content of the…

The accreditation process and the federal role in shaping it are clearly of critical importance for ensuring all students have access to quality postsecondary options. And yet, due to the complexity of the relationship among the federal government, accreditors, and institutions, and the opacity of the accreditation process itself, there is little…

The costs associated with attending a community college have increased over the years, not unlike most sectors within higher education (Mitchell & Leachman, 2015). As such, community college students often find borrowing student loans a necessity in order to seek the academic credential they intend (McKinney & Backscheider Burridge, 2015).…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…