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…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.5 trillion, many are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. They cite students with loans of more than $100,000 and ballooning loan default rates. They contend that borrowing for higher education may not be worth the financial risks. Some even argue that students…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.4 trillion, critics are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. They cite students with loans of more than $100,000 and ballooning loan default rates. They contend that borrowing for higher education may not be worth the financial risks, especially for students who…

The federal government's Direct Loan program dominates the student-loan market today, issuing 90 percent of all loans made across the country each year. Students pursuing everything from short-term certificates to master's degrees qualify for nearly $100 billion in loans every year at terms more generous than most private lenders would offer.…

Regularly reported statistics about high and growing student-loan debt levels, combined with increased rates of delinquency and default, have prompted calls to address the student-debt "crisis." For New England, with its highly educated population and large higher education industry, student-loan debt is an important economic policy…

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…

Objective: The purpose of our study was to identify the factors associated with federal loan default among a nationally-representative sample of community college students. The guiding research question was: For community college students who borrow federal loans, to what extent do demographic, academic, and enrollment characteristics relate to…

A result of the last recession was the closure or merging of many higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the New England region. In October 2019, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) in convened a group of economists and higher education leaders at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to talk about "The Future of Higher…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to discuss the cost of college as well as student-centered reforms to bring higher education within reach. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Robert C. Scott, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor; and (2) Honorable…

After doubling during the Great Recession, tuition at California's public universities has leveled off: since 2012, it has increased by a modest 2.5 percent at the University of California (UC) and has not risen at all at the California State University (CSU). However, tuition is now at all-time highs at UC ($11,442), CSU ($5,472), and the…

A prominent concern is that college students are harming their long-term economic prospects by making student loan decisions without full information about the implications of their choices. We designed an experiment to examine students' responses to a debt letter, an increasingly popular strategy to provide easily accessible information about…

An increased focus on high-impact pedagogical practices at a small, residential, higher education institution led to a grant-funded project to gather and analyze multidimensional data on 10,155 residential foreclosures in central Illinois from 2006 to 2013. Student researchers applied skills gained through academic coursework to investigate a…