In 2017, the U.S. Department of Education released groundbreaking data showing that half of Black or African American borrowers who first entered college in the 2003-04 academic year defaulted on their student loans within 12 years. New federal data released this fall show that these numbers have not improved: Black or African American borrowers…

This report analyzes new data on student debt and repayment, released by the U.S. Department of Education in October 2017. Previously available data have been limited to borrowers only, follow students for a relatively short period (3-5 years) after entering repayment, and had only limited information on student characteristics and experiences.…

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represented only 6% of postsecondary awards in 1980, but today they represent 22% of all credentials awarded and have superseded associate's and master's degrees as the second most common…

This study examines the institutional factors associated with student loan default. When a college has more than 30% of its students default on their loans, then the institution faces federal sanctions that could make them ineligible from participating in the federal student loan program. Using Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System…

This study examined the rate of participation in, and default on loans from, the Federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) and the Federal Supplemental Loans for Students (SLS) programs. In particular the study sought to know the volume of loans made to students or parents of students attending proprietary (trade) schools and other…

Testimony of the associate director of the Department of Education's Health Education and Human Services Division, Education and Employment Issues, addresses issues concerned with Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended in 1992. Title IV provides grants, loans, and work-study supports to students pursuing post-secondary education…

This hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, addresses the implications of the anticipated failure of the Higher Education Assistance Foundation (HEAF), the largest guarantor of student loans. HEAF's difficulties have affected Sallie Mae (Student Loan Marketing Association), and have raised general questions about the…

This report presents the testimony of the Associate Director of Education and Employment Issues of the Health, Education, and Human Services Division of the General Accounting Office (GAO) concerning the participation of postsecondary institutions in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), which makes direct student loans to students.…

The American Association of Cosmetology Schools (AACS) criticized the General Accounting Office (GAO) report which stated that federal student financial aid was being spent to train proprietary school students for oversupplied occupations. The GAO defended the following findings: (1) an occupation-specific training program that lacked a general…

As part of a larger program to identify and analyze federal programs at high risk for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement, this publication presents an evaluation of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), formerly the Guaranteed Student Loan Program. The analysis argues that the program has not been successful in protecting the…

This report on student indebtedness is based primarily on a current study which is measuring the average Stafford loan balance facing students, as well as indicators of payment stress. The study is based on data on about 325,000 loans from the USA Group's entire loan servicing portfolio, which includes both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford…

A study analyzed student outcomes at those schools and colleges that filed reports with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools/Colleges of Technology during the 1993 school year. It also compared these data to information collected in 1990, 1991, and 1992. The study focused on the following outcomes calculated separately for full- and…

Largely because of high student loan default rates, much of the criticism of federal aid programs has focused on policies and practices affecting the participation of proprietary schools in federal student aid. This report reviews alternative indicators of school performance that are currently used or could be used by the federal student aid…