Governments around the world use grant and loan programs to ease the financial constraints that contribute to socioeconomic gaps in college completion. A growing body of research assesses the impact of grants; less is known about how loan programs affect persistence and degree completion. We use detailed administrative data from Chile to provide…

The development of cost-efficient pathways is a topic of increasing political and scholarly interest across many North American jurisdictions. It has been suggested that 'seamless' transfer pathways can provide financial savings to both students and taxpayers. However, such claims are typically based on hypothetical cost calculations, as opposed…

Every year, the BC Student Outcomes Program collects feedback from former students who took post-secondary programs. Student feedback is essential to maintain quality and relevance in the education system. In 2022, over 28,500 former students were surveyed; key results from those surveys are presented in this report. 90% of the former…

Every year, BC Student Outcomes collects feedback from former students who took post-secondary programs. Student feedback is essential to maintain quality and relevance in the education system. In 2021, just over 29,500 former students were surveyed; key results from those surveys are presented here. In 2021, 92 percent of the former…

Every year, BC Student Outcomes collects feedback from former students who took post-secondary programs. Student feedback is essential to maintain quality and relevance in the education system. In 2020, more than 29,000 former students were surveyed; key results from those surveys are presented here. In 2020, 92 percent of the former…

Federal free-college policies are now at the center of the Democratic higher education agenda. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped move the idea into the mainstream during the 2016 presidential campaign, and other lawmakers have since worked to advance the policy in Congress. Joe Biden effectively put free college on the ballot in 2020 when he fully…

The Ontario Ministry of Education and Training's Task Force on University Accountability first proposed key performance indicators (KPIs) for colleges and universities in Ontario in the early 1990s. The three main KPIs for Ontario universities are the rates of (1) graduation, (2) employment, and (3) Ontario Student Assistance Program loan default.…

Using an original dataset collected at a Chinese university and adopting a difference-in-differences research design, this study draws causal inferences regarding the effect of the Government-Subsidized Student Loan Program (GSSLP) on financially needy students at Chinese higher education institutions. Specifically, this study finds that the…

Financial aid to students in tertiary education can contribute to human capital accumulation through two channels: increased enrollment and improved student performance. We pay particular attention to the latter channel, and study its quantitative importance in the context of a student support program from the Sociedad de Fomento a la Educacion…

The British system of student loans has a zero real rate of interest, less than it costs the government to borrow the money. This paper discusses the problems that arise from interest subsidies in the UK system of student loans; systems in other countries, for example Australia and New Zealand, face similar problems. The topic appears to be narrow…

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…

The Hong Kong system of student loans for higher education has worked efficiently since 1969. Many factors in its success are location-specific, but other governments may both learn from and contribute to the Hong Kong experience. (MSE)

The purpose of this study is to move beyond debates about income-contingency or non-income contingency as a means of loan repayment and focus on the specific nature of the debt burden facing students in different countries. In particular, it will explore how much students in different countries owe in student loan debt, the conditions governing…

Recent events have increased concerns about the potential for fraud in student loan programs related to loans for U.S. residents attending foreign schools. In 2002 the Office of Special Investigations of the General Accounting Office (GAO) created a fictitious foreign school that the Department of Education subsequently certified as eligible to…