This study analyzed the debt profile of low-income households before and after the Great Recession using the 2007, 2010, and 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). We used Heckman selection models to investigate three debt characteristics: (a) the amount of debt, (b) debt-to-income ratio, and (c) debt delinquency. Before and after the Great…

This brief uses administrative data provided on the Baccalaureate and Beyond and Beginning Postsecondary Students data sets to examine student loan repayment over time. Specifically, we provide descriptive details on what differentiates borrowers in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans and explore the relationship between these plans and short-term…

With the total student debt in the United States at nearly $1.5 trillion, loans are affecting the lives of many students. But while higher education pays off for the average graduate, the student loan data illustrates a unique and severe situation for Black students that has reached crisis level, even if the same isn't true for other racial and…

This study investigated whether spending habits before and during the Great Recession predicted financial distress. Financial distress was defined as failing to make mortgage and non-mortgage loan payments on time. Data from the 2007-2009 panel of the Survey of Consumer Finances revealed that one's prerecession spending habit did not seem to…

Background/Context: Sub-baccalaureate certificates can provide an accelerated pathway to gainful employment for the unemployed or underemployed. Certificates represented only 6% of postsecondary awards in 1980, but today they represent 22% of all credentials awarded and have superseded associate's and master's degrees as the second most common…

Little is known about private student loan discrimination, in contrast to the relatively developed research on discrimination in other credit markets such as mortgages and credit cards. The private student lending market can play a key role in responding to changes in the policy or economic environment, and many students and their families turn to…

We review studies of the impact of credit constraints on the accumulation of human capital. Evidence suggests that credit constraints have recently become important for schooling and other aspects of households' behavior. We highlight the importance of early childhood investments, as their response largely determines the impact of credit…

Attempted to replicate and extend the findings of earlier Student Loan Recipient Survey of the 1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:87) on student loan defaults. Analysis of 1,117 borrowers from 510 institutions indicated that besides certain precollege traits and high grade point averages, postcollege employment congruent with the…

Based on a survey of former California State University students who repaid (224) or defaulted on (128) loans, an analysis found high levels of significance in postsecondary outcome variables (graduation, employment and income patterns), institutional practices and characteristics, student background characteristics, and understanding of rights…

Analysis of National Postsecondary Student Aid Study data for 11,000 students in loan programs at 1,400 institutions found borrowers with similar earned degrees, marital status, number of dependent children, showed similar levels of income/loan default, regardless of racial/ethnic group. Findings dispute national policy and suggest that campuses…