We update Collier et al. (2021) by using the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) 2019 dataset to explore characteristics of enrollees in Income-Driven Repayment (IDR). SCF 2019 is more likely to include borrowers engaged in REPAYE. Findings support an ongoing need to encourage greater IDR participation for lowest-income borrowers and reinforced…

The student debt crisis is particularly dire for Black borrowers. Black degree-seekers are more likely to take out student loans to pay for higher education than white students, and they carry the largest average student loan debt of all racial demographics in the nation. The COVID-19 pandemic has created even more barriers to both postsecondary…

Current assessments of college value fall short of centering race in its measurements by ignoring the unique economic conditions students of color face. To support ongoing advocacy for equitable investments in both students of color and institutions serving the largest shares of racially marginalized students, in its latest analysis, The Institute…

Student loan debt continues to grow at a rapid pace (Scott-Clayton, 2018). The total debt burden for each student graduating from college is over $35,000, and that number is likely to gradually rise as tuition costs and fees at institutions of higher education increase (Friedman, 2018). The problem is not that students accrue debt but rather the…

Since 1997, education tax benefits have become an increasingly important component of federal higher education policy. For the 2019 and 2020 tax years, 12 tax benefits are available for college students and their parents to help pay for higher education. In 2025, absent legislative action, this number will increase to 13: two provisions which are…

More than 40 years of research has found a positive relationship between increases in the proportion of non-resident students enrolling in an institution and increases in the tuition prices this institution charges to these same students. Notably, this line of research has consistently treated this non-resident student body as if they constitute a…

Despite the many plaudits it has won, the new student funding regime in Wales deserves close scrutiny, including in England as the Augar Review of Post-18 Education and Funding enters its final phase. This paper looks at the new system, particularly in relation to full-time students. The figures provided are generally for Welsh-domiciled students…

The growing availability of new data has pushed state policymakers to increasingly consider the return on investment of higher education. In this brief, we highlight key components of the return to higher education investments for both individual students and state taxpayers. By synthesizing research on how the value of education is realized at…

Policymakers, postsecondary education leaders, and researchers agree: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be a barrier to achieving this nation's college access goals. Concerns about the FAFSA's negative impact on enrollment and financial aid have sparked a bipartisan push to simplify and shorten the form by removing…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) educate nearly two-thirds of the Hispanic/Latinx students who attend college. Yet little is known about the student populations they serve. Findings from two NSF-funded surveys completed with students at 14 HSIs in Texas and New Mexico in 2018 and four HSIs in TX in 2019 are presented. The combined sample was…

Statistics in Brief publications present descriptive data in tabular formats to provide useful information to a broad audience, including members of the general public. They address simple and topical issues and questions. Using data from 2011-12, this Statistics in Brief updates and expands on a previous National Center for Education Statistics…

College is increasingly expensive for students, but states have an important policy tool to help defray the costs: state financial aid programs. However, many states' programs are misaligned with articulated strategic postsecondary education policy goals. Over the past two years, Education Commission of the States has supported a variety of…

This essay synthesizes the most recent and rigorous research on student loan debt. It focuses on basic questions about who borrows, how much, and whether debt affects behaviors. Answers to these questions are necessary for informing federal student loan policymaking, yet the research findings are surprisingly mixed because of poor data quality,…

Both the published tuition and fee prices of colleges and universities and the net prices students pay after subtracting grant aid and tax credits and deductions continued to rise between 2016-17 and 2017-18, even after adjusting for inflation. Average net prices in 2017-18 remain lower at public two-year and private nonprofit four-year…

In 2016-17, published tuition and fee prices rose slightly less than the year before. The rapid price growth observed during the Great Recession has abated, as typically happens when the economy recovers, but the rate of increase in tuition and fees continues to exceed inflation. More notable, however, is the pattern of the net prices students…