The student loan payment pause ended two years ago as of September 2025, but borrowers were given a one-year "on-ramp" to resume payments. In April, the Department of Education announced that collections on student loans would start again. The California Policy Lab's prior work found that a large portion of borrowers were likely to…

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…

In the summer of 2022, New America managed focus groups with almost 50 borrowers from across the country who reported holding federal student debt and defaulting on their loans before the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group participants felt hopeless about their student loans, and they had good reason to feel this way. They entered the default system,…

The College Cost Reduction Act would overhaul the Higher Education Act, making changes to student borrowing and repayment, borrower protections, college oversight, postsecondary data, and more. The bill includes a new proposed risk-sharing model that would require colleges to repay the federal government for a calculated proportion of their…

This TICAS (The Institute for College Access & Success) issue brief explores student financial vulnerability and highlights the need for policymakers to both prioritize need-based grant aid and recognize a broader array of financial circumstances and challenges impacting students in order to better address their financial needs and reduce…

Black students are more likely to take on debt, borrow higher amounts, and struggle with repayment than their peers, because they generally have fewer resources to pay for college, thanks to the ongoing generational effects of systemic racism. This debt burden has far-reaching financial consequences, and many Black borrowers are unable to afford…

Through the lens of Human Capital theory, the role of financial aid (both amount and type) is explored in the context of student financial stress, and ultimately general student health. Data are taken from a sample of 232 students from a major Midwestern university who were surveyed about their financial attitudes, behavior and knowledge. The…

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…

Policymakers, postsecondary education leaders, and researchers agree: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be a barrier to achieving this nation's college access goals. Concerns about the FAFSA's negative impact on enrollment and financial aid have sparked a bipartisan push to simplify and shorten the form by removing…

American consumers owe more than $150 billion in outstanding private student loan debt. While this amount is significantly less than the amount outstanding on student loans guaranteed by the federal government, the private student loan ("PSL") product is an important component of higher education finance and does not appear to be well…

Recent turbulence in the student-loan business has colleges scrambling to find new loan providers. Financial-aid offices at affected colleges are working hard to get the word out to students. Changes in the loan market have hit community colleges particularly hard because their students tend to have smaller loans and higher default rates than…

The Guaranteed Student Loan Program (GSLP) has had many problems, including a high default rate, student bankruptcy, bad press, and lack of government money. (PG)

Solutions to the urban crisis, the Vietnam war, and other national problems require, and could be met by, the knowledge and manpower developed in American colleges and universities. But a severe financial crisis increasingly threatens even their normal operations. Enrollments have risen by about 3.5 million since 1930, with a large segment of this…

Author leans toward institutional support as the main method of applying federal aid to the problem of higher education for all classes of students. (IR)

Looks at how the Reagan administration's proposed federal budget cuts may impact on the amount of money New Jersey will receive under various federal programs, including block grants, the Elementary Secondary Education Act titles, the Child Nutrition Act, and guaranteed student loans. (SJL)