There are many ways to pay for postsecondary education, and one increasingly common option is an income share agreement (ISA). Under an ISA, the learner promises a share of their pre-tax earnings to a funder for a set period after the learner finishes or stops their program. The learner makes payments only when their earnings are high enough, and…

The Biden administration launched a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan for federal student loans this year called Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE). The plan cuts borrowers' monthly payments compared with current IDR plans, provides earlier loan forgiveness for smaller debts, and prevents unpaid interest from accumulating. To better…

Government-sponsored student loans have emerged over the decades as a primary method of financing post-secondary education across most North American jurisdictions. Despite this, the empirical literature examining the correlates of repayment difficulty and default in Canada has remained stagnant in recent years. This study taps into an…

The Postsecondary Value Framework sets wealth accumulation as a key indicator of postsecondary value. Postsecondary education's impact on wealth-building is especially salient for students of color, who tend to start a financial step behind their more privileged White counterparts due to the longstanding racial wealth gap. The racial wealth gaps…

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid and substantial increase in unemployment and to uncertainty about future job prospects. Despite this increased uncertainty, parents' expectations that their children will pursue postsecondary studies remained high during the lockdown--91.7% of children whose parents were surveyed in May or June 2020 were…

This paper examines the feasibility of an income-contingent loan system to finance tertiary education in Indonesia. Using graduates' income data from the 2015 National Labor Force Survey, we modeled the life-cycle income distribution of university graduates using unconditional quantile regression. We used these estimates to simulate different…

Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, ensures that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance--grants, loans, and work-study programs for education beyond high school. By championing the promise of postsecondary education, the office upholds its value as a force for greater inclusion in American…

Postsecondary education is a key pathway to economic mobility for many Americans, but financial challenges often make it difficult for learners to pursue and complete their education. Obtaining financing for postsecondary education can be a barrier to access for some students. The process is complicated, and many programs are ineligible for…

This introductory report outlines the challenges of postsecondary completion, the variable value provided by a postsecondary pathway, and the corresponding cost and debt. Together, these challenges create an inequitable, ineffective, and unsustainable U.S. postsecondary system in which individuals are increasingly reluctant to participate or…

The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program makes several types of federal student loans available to individuals to assist them with financing postsecondary education expenses. It represents the single largest source of federal financial assistance to support students' postsecondary educational pursuits. The U.S. Department of…

Completing additional education after high school has nearly become a prerequisite for a stable career and middle-class income. Yet the total cost of higher education continues to climb, increasing 31 percent at public institutions and 24 percent at private nonprofit institutions in ten years. Consequently, student loans will remain a reality for…

This Statistics in Brief describes the employment, debt-related, and enrollment experiences as of 2012 among students who completed their bachelor's degrees during the 2007-08 academic year. These findings are based on data from the second follow-up of the 2008 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/12), a nationally…

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…

Education and training beyond high school matters, preparing students to contribute to their communities, allowing them to lead healthier and more productive lives, and strengthening the economy. In today's economy, higher education is increasingly important for those seeking jobs that pay a living wage. Unfortunately, many Ohio policies work…

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…