The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program is the single largest source of federal financial assistance to support students' postsecondary educational pursuits. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that in FY2024, $85.8 billion in new loans will be made through the program. As of the end of the first quarter of FY2023,…

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration paused federal student loan payments and interest accruals as a temporary relief measure for borrowers. The pause covered roughly 90 percent of all outstanding student loans, affecting about 38 million individuals, who collectively held a balance of $1.5 trillion. For each of the 17 million…

This study examined the relationship between financial stress and student retention for post-secondary students. Data from 2014 collected at a Pacific Northwest University using The Ohio State's National Student Financial Wellness Study were used to examine the students' reported levels of stress related to finances. Students reported the most…

The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program is the single largest source of federal financial assistance to support students' postsecondary educational pursuits. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that in FY2025, $93.1 billion in new loans will be made through the program. As of the end of the third quarter of FY2024,…

As China moved from elite to mass higher education, student borrowers as the product of state intervention have surged. Yet little attention has been paid to their voices. This study conducts reflexive thematic analysis with a qualitative inquiry into lived experiences of 41 current borrowers. A five-factor typology of debt attitudes yields a…

Debt will provide economic benefits if it is used for productive things and the debtor have a good plan to repay. Many of the women in the village of Baleturi are in debt, but most of the women who are in debt do not use the money for productive activities. As a result, they decide to take on new debts in order to pay off old debts. The purpose of…

With rapid economic development, financial literacy plays an increasingly important role in helping individuals navigate the complexities of modern financial systems and products. The importance of financial literacy is particularly pronounced in China, one of the largest economies in the world, especially for university students who are…

We evaluate the effects of the 2020 student debt moratorium that paused payments for student loan borrowers. Using administrative credit panel data, we show that the payment pause led to a sharp drop in student loan payments and delinquencies for borrowers subject to the debt moratorium, as well as an increase in credit scores. We find a large…

The authors of this article propose a classroom simulation designed for advanced economics or finance courses whereby student teams role-play Moody's sovereign credit risk analysts. Despite the importance of sovereign credit risk ratings in affecting the funding liquidity of countries, the process generating ratings is a black box. The authors use…

School districts in the United States often borrow on the municipal bond market to pay for capital projects. Districts serving economically disadvantaged communities tend to receive lower credit ratings and pay higher interest rates. To remedy this problem, 24 states have established credit enhancement programs that promise to repay district debt…

Student debt has been a crisis for years, and the pandemic has only exacerbated matters for many borrowers. This is especially true for Black borrowers, who are among those most negatively affected by student loans -- due, in large part, to systemic racism, the inequitable distribution of wealth in this country, a stratified labor market, and…

The money creation and monetary policy chapters in the leading introductory textbooks commonly present an outdated and misleading approach that is now largely irrelevant. A preferable model would help students understand that money and monetary policy are about bank and household motives, the importance of capital, and the role of credit. An…

Financial products and services are increasingly present in our daily lives, so it is very important to know the advantages that can be obtained by using them. In this way, the present study seeks to determine the existence of an underlying structure that explains the knowledge towards the topics of Income, Money Management, Savings and…

The transition to a financialized economy has had a devastating impact on workers and consumers and exacerbated wealth and income inequality in the United States and around the world. In this article, the authors explain financialization, a two-fold economic strategy whereby individual corporations invest in the financial market- rather than make…

Today, approximately 43 million Americans hold a federal student loan. When these borrowers fall behind on payments, they become delinquent on their loans; once the loans reach 270 days past due, borrowers are in default. As of March 2021, roughly 1 in 5 borrowers was in default, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. Failing to…