The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, specifies a loan origination fee of 1 percent for all Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and a fee of 4 percent for all Direct PLUS Loans for both parent borrowers and graduate and professional student borrowers. Student loan origination fees generated a staggering $1.7 billion in…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine the Department of Education's implementation of Borrower Defense. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Robert Scott, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor; and (2) Honorable Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee…

The Parent PLUS loan covers the financial gap of a student's educational expenses after other forms of financial assistance. Depending on the unmet need, the PLUS loan amount borrowed can be tens of thousands of dollars for a single academic year. In this research article, I provide results from evaluating financial aid offers at Missouri public,…

Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA; P.L. 89-329, as amended) authorizes the operation of three federal student loan programs: the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, and the Federal Perkins Loan program. While new loans are currently authorized to be made only…

Drawing on data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) and the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS), this study examined the risks associated with losing credits in the process of transferring between colleges. The effects of credit loss are considered on the timing of degree completion and student loan…

During the 118th Congress, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce marked up and ordered reported the College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA; H.R. 6951). Most of the bill's provisions would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA; P.L. 89-329, as amended), though it is not a comprehensive reauthorization of the HEA. Nevertheless, the bill…

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant program provides grants to students who are completing or plan to complete the coursework required to begin a career in teaching. As a condition for receiving a TEACH Grant, a recipient must teach for at least four years in a high-need field at an elementary or…

This paper investigates the possible opportunity cost of using standard college savings plans against the advantages of using debt to pay for college. In addition, it presents a practical argument for using debt in place of college savings plans in certain instances. By doing so, investors may not only be able to mitigate the difficulty of saving,…

Student loan debt is the second highest consumer debt type in the United States, second only to mortgage debt (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2020). With an average federal loan balance of $32,300 in FY2020, it is estimated that 42.5 million borrowers owe a total of $1.4 trillion in student loan debt. As of March 2020, 19% of borrowers were in…

The paper studies the impact of financial aid on long-term educational attainment and labor market outcomes in Colombia. In 2014, the government launched a large-scale and generous student loan program called "Ser Pilo Paga." It offered full tuition coverage to students admitted to one of 33 government-certified high-quality universities…

The higher education to workforce pipeline is crucial for our country's economic growth and longevity. However, almost half of students who enroll in college fall off and never complete. The outcomes are even starker for students from low-income backgrounds who face high levels of unmet needs and barriers to completion while in school. Ensuring…

In August 2022, the U.S Department of Education (ED) announced it would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student loan debts for borrowers who fell below certain income thresholds. The HEROES Act authorizes the Secretary to "waive or modify" statutory…

In the United States, 44.7 million individuals carry student loan debt (Bustamante, 2020). Female students borrow money at higher rates than males (Qian & Fan, 2021). First-generation students borrow more than students whose parents attended college (Redford & Hoyer, 2017). Therefore, female first-generation students carry the highest…

Recruiting and retaining effective special educators is essential for improving the outcomes of students with disabilities, yet it remains one of the foremost challenges facing special education. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the extent to which economic interventions -- such as bonuses, increased salaries, and loan…

Recruiting and retaining a well-prepared, stable, and diverse teacher workforce is a critical endeavor to advance student learning and development. However, the persistent teacher shortages across the nation's schools challenge this mission. The teaching profession has been characterized by relatively lower levels of compensation compared to other…