We investigate how undergraduates' financial aid packages affect their subsequent donative behavior as alumni. We analyze micro data on alumni giving at an anonymous research university, and focus on three types of financial aid, scholarships, loans, and campus jobs. Consistent with the view of some professional fundraisers, we allow the receipt…

Many higher education students combine their study with a job on the side instead of taking up a loan. This paper examines the factors underlying this apparently myopic behaviour. We find that standard economic factors explain observed borrowing decisions to some extent. Students with easier access to financial resources borrow less often.…

There is significant irresolution in many countries concerning the design of student loan schemes. In no country recently has there been more uncertainty as to the form that loans should take than Thailand. The Student Loans Fund (SLF), a conventional approach to financing, was introduced in 1996, discontinued at the end of 2005, and re-introduced…

The Thai higher education sector has expanded quickly during the past decade, making a transition from an elitist to a mass institution. A driving force behind the expansion was believed to be the Student Loan Fund (SLF), introduced in 1996. During the first 10 years of its operation, the SLF has lent to more than 2.6 million students, with the…

Government student loan schemes typically have implicit interest rate subsidies which, while these are a cost to taxpayers, they have the benefit of diminishing repayment burdens for graduates. Our goal is to illustrate the extent of both interest rate subsidies and repayment burdens with respect to Thailand's Student Loans Fund (SLF), using…

Merit scholarships, an attempt to maintain the number and quality of students in the face of declining enrollments, are a bad idea for society and for individual institutions. Merit aid will assist students who would have attended college anyway and hurt needy students who might not be able to attend. Includes two tables, eight notes, and 11…

Analyzes a student-loans scheme in Thailand to increase access of poor students, for example, to upper-secondary and postsecondary education. Finds average repayment ratio of loans is 10 percent or less. Recommends conversion of upper-secondary loans to grants and reforms in postsecondary loan procedures to improve repayment and recovery ratios.…

Examines whether undergraduate students are incurring excessive debt to finance college attendance. Using data on debt levels for 1982-83 full-time college seniors in California, the study concludes that no more than four percent of dependent students and five percent of independent students have excessive debt. Includes six tables, seven notes,…

Focuses on a specific federal credit program (the guaranteed student loan program), using the Engle and Granger two-step procedure to estimate an error correction model of commercial student loan supply. Results indicate that the secondary market is an important determinant of commercial student loan lending and that commercial supply is inelastic…

Examines student loan systems in both developed and developing countries to provide guidance on issues such as loan size, eligibility criteria, and repayment terms. Experience suggests that student loans in developing countries are feasible, but that benefits may be more modest than previously suggested. Includes two notes and 23 references. (MLH)

Economic analysis of the borrowing and repayment patterns of Canadian bachelor's-level university graduates using data from the National Graduate Survey of the class of 1990. Finds, for example, that overall women borrowed only slightly less than men, repaid as quickly as men (despite lower earnings), but reported significantly more difficulty in…

Following a brief critical review of the federally sponsored student loan system, this paper develops fundamental principles for overhauling the system and creating an Educational Credit Trust. This federally chartered corporation would determine lender eligibility requirements, monitor lenders' financial performance, and sanction student loan…

Using High School and Beyond longitudinal data for 1980, this paper shows that government subsidized student aid substantially improved access to higher education for low income individuals. The analysis also shows that wealth neutrality (equal probability of college attendance across all incomes) was not achieved. (10 references) (MLH)

Uses National Postsecondary Student Aid Study data to analyze the characteristics of student loan recipients and compare defaulters and nondefaulters along various dimensions, including demographic profiles, socioeconomic characteristics, and educational attainment. Borrowers from low-income households and minority groups, high school dropouts,…

Tuition and financial aid affect higher education access and institutional budgeting practices. California's public system has the lowest fees for community college, midrange for the California State University, and highest for the University of California. Although Federal Pell and State Cal Grants soften the tuition burden, the system relies…