Public school districts in the United States borrow over a trillion dollars for their facilities each year from the municipal bond market, yet more than half of these school buildings need significant repair. In this paper, we examine the relationship between a single school district infamous for its infrastructure needs, the School District of…

Student debt was specifically addressed in the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic through forbearance polices. However, not all individuals were eligible for forbearance, and it is possible that forbearance would leave some feeling further behind. Yet, little is known about student loan debt over the course of the pandemic,…

This report provides findings from the evaluation of the pilot year of the Ohio College Comeback Compact, an institutional debt cancellation program being implemented at eight public institutions in northeast Ohio. The Compact provides up to $5,000 in debt cancellation for stopped-out students meeting certain requirements. As part of the…

Financial literacy skillsets may be lacking in the first-year college student population, which may contribute to lower first-year college student retention rates. Because financial literacy is a skillset that may need to be taught to college students, this study attempted to understand and explore the link between financial literacy levels and…

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, twenty-four states have established credit enhancement programs that promise to repay…

This paper analyses potential links between extreme optimism and student loan debt. Prior work finds extreme optimism to be associated with imprudent household savings and investment decisions. This paper explores whether these findings are relevant to student loan decisions. Using the most recent administration of the Survey of Consumer Finances…

Student debt has exploded over the past several decades, rising to over $1.7 trillion. Federal student loans represent over 90% of student loan balances, with private financing making up the remainder. Research has shown that the negative impact of student debt has not been distributed equally across different demographics, with Black borrowers…

Outstanding Higher Education Act (HEA) Title IV federal student loan debt exceeds $1.6 trillion and is owed by about 45 million borrowers. In August 2022, the Biden Administration announced it would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel, on a one-time basis, up to $20,000 in qualifying…

We explore how much borrowers value student debt relief, in the setting of the federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program, and further document whether information and eligibility for this program affect teacher employment decisions. The program cancels between $5,000 and $17,500 in debt for teachers who remain employed in a high-need school…

Given the prevalence of transfer activity, education stakeholders must understand how transfer may be associated with student outcomes. Such knowledge is critical, as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn have impacted college enrollment and student transfer behavior. Relying on a sample of 6510 undergraduate students from BPS:12/17 data, we…

This study extends the literature on education economics and student retention by examining social capital as a predictor of college graduation rates, student debt levels, and student loan default rates. Coleman's social capital theory is employed to understand how social influences can impact students through external social support (i.e., social…

Forty-five million Americans collectively owe $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, and women hold nearly two-thirds of it. Black borrowers are the group most negatively affected by student loans, in large part because of systemic racism, the inequitable distribution of wealth, a stratified labor market, and rising college costs. Because Black women…

Income-driven repayment (IDR) plans are a subset of student loan repayment plans that cap a borrower's monthly payment at a percentage of their discretionary income, which is defined as a portion of a borrower's adjusted gross income (AGI) that exceeds a specified multiple of the federal poverty line (FPL) for the borrower's family size. A…

Purpose: To identify the financial stress and associate factors of tertiary level student. Design/methodology/approach: To identify the financial stress and associate factors, a structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from 571 students of different universities of Bangladesh through Google form. Chi square and Cramer's "V"…

This study examines the effects of financial advice on college-saving decisions using data sets from the 2009 and 2012 U.S. National Financial Capability Study. After controlling for self-selection bias through propensity score matching, the findings show that receiving financial advice is associated positively with the likelihood of saving for…