Education Commons^™

Student Loan Default: Do Characteristics Of Four-Year Institutions Contribute To The Puzzle?, Karen L. Webber, Sharon L. Rogers

Journal of Student Financial Aid

College student debt and loan default are growing concerns in the United States. For each U.S. institution, the federal government is now reporting a cohort default rate, which is the percent of students who defaulted on their loan, averaged over a three-year period. Previous studies have amply shown that student characteristics are strongly associated with educational debt and one’s ability to repay student loans; however, few studies have deeply examined the relationship between institutional characteristics and student loan default. This study examined characteristics of 1,399 four-year notfor-profit U.S. institutions and found significant differences in the 2010 federal student loan default …

Do You Know What You Owe? Students' Understanding Of Their Student Loans, Emily A. Andruska, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Gregory R. Forbes, Darin R. Wohlgemuth

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Using a data set that augments a student survey with administrative data from the Iowa State University Office of Financial Aid, the authors posed two questions: Do students know whether they have student loans? Do students know how much they owe on outstanding student loans? We used logistic and ordered logit regressions to answer these questions. Results suggest that although the majority of students are aware that they owe on student loans, many underestimate the amount they owe. One eighth of students in the current study reported no student debt when, in fact, they had a loan. Over a quarter …

A Comparative Study On Need-Based Aid Policy In Higher Education Between The State Of Indiana And Taiwan, Ching-Hui Lin, Don Hossler

Journal of Student Financial Aid

The question of how the government can best support access to postsecondary education has become a critical issue for education policymakers around the globe, as the practice of cost sharing for funding postsecondary education has been more widely adopted. In this context, this study explores the approaches to implementing current need-based financial aid policies in higher education in Indiana and Taiwan using G.Z.F. Bereday’s (1964) comparative method as the framework. Using a comparative cross-national perspective, the authors explored cost sharing, Rawls’ theory of social justice, and the economic principles of horizontal and vertical equity.

This review revealed that need-based aid …

Book Review: Confessions Of A Community College Administrator, Valerie Culler Edd

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Confessions of a Community College Administrator by Matthew Reed provides readers with an overview of many of the practical day-to-day challenges encountered by community college administrators. The author has more than 10 years of experience working in the community college sector and is also the author of a popular blog, Confessions of a Community College Dean, which is featured regularly in InsideHigherEd.com. Reed’s approach in Confessions of a Community College Administrator is to educate future leaders of community colleges on current and long-term challenges for the sector, by sharing many of his own experiences in the roles of a community …

Book Review: Why Does College Cost So Much?, Edward J. Smith, Brian A. Sponsler

Journal of Student Financial Aid

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Financial Decisions Among Undergraduate Students From Low-Income And Working-Class Social Class Backgrounds, Krista M. Soria, Brad Weiner, Elissa C. Lu

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Low-income and working-class students face many challenges related to the costs and affordability of higher education; yet, little is known about the financial decisions made by these groups of students while they are enrolled in higher education and how their decisions might differ from middle/upper-class students. Using data from students enrolled at six large, public research universities in 2012, researchers examined 16 different financial decisions of undergraduate students. Results suggest that low-income and working-class students are more likely to make decisions that could negatively impact their immediate academic experience, serve as disruptive barriers to success, delay or prolong graduation, or …

A History Of Financial Aid To Students, Matthew B. Fuller

Journal of Student Financial Aid

The history of financial aid in higher education covers a board range of philanthropic-, scholarship-, and loan-based approaches. This article comprehensively covers the history of American financial aid to students from influences of European medieval institutions to contemporary aid systems. A broad history of financial aid is covered, revealing an evolution from a system primarily based upon local philanthropic efforts, to a more formal system of scholarships and grants, to, finally, a complex federal system of loans. As the history of financial aid is chronologically covered, attention is paid to describing how financial aid policies and practices were a response …

The “Gainful Employment Rule” And Student Loan Defaults: How The Policy Frame Overlooks Important Normative Implications, Gabriel Serna

Journal of Student Financial Aid

In this essay I examine the empirical considerations and normative aspects that such a proposal engenders and how the policy frame, while useful, misses important normative implications for aid policy. Specifically, I will analyze the policy’s proposed goals, and the normative implications that adoption of such measures entails; which have been omitted from the policy debate. I will also consider how empirical or economic implications have taken center stage in the process of defining the policy’s image and the potential negative consequnces this creates.

Editor's Column, Jacob P.K. Gross

Journal of Student Financial Aid

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Student Financing Of Higher Education: A Comparative Perspective, Shannon Franklin

Journal of Student Financial Aid

No abstract provided.

Debt And College Students' Life Transitions: The Effect Of Educational Debt On Career Choice In America, Yeseul Choi

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This study reviewed the literature to investigate the impact of student loans on career choices, in order to provide implications for policy makers and researchers with respect to student loan policy. For this purpose, empirical studies in peer reviewed journals since 1985 were analyzed. This review explored the results of empirical studies regarding the relationship between debt and career choice in three areas: 1) general career choice, 2) specialty choice in particular fields such as law and medical school, and 3) the decision to pursue an advanced degree. The results suggest that educational debt generally has no clear negative effect …

Editor's Column, Jacob P.K. Gross

Journal of Student Financial Aid

No abstract provided.

Changes To Federal Pell Grant Eligibility: The Effect Of Policy And Program Changes On College Students At Public Institutions In Kentucky, Cody Davidson

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Data from all 2010-2011 undergraduate students, who received a Pell Grant disbursement at Kentucky’s two-year and four-year public institutions, were used to simulate the eligibility changes to the Pell Grant program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 and from the termination of year-round Pell. Specifically, these changes: a) the number of semesters a student may receive a full-time Federal Pell Grant award reduced from 18 to 12, b) the income threshold for an automatic zero EFC reduced from $32,000 to $23,000, c) elimination of eligibility for students who would have received less than 10% of the maximum award, d) …

Undergraduates With Employer-Sponsored Aid: Comparing Group Differences, Dagney G. Faulk, Zhenlei Wang

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Tuition assistance offered by employers is an understudied area of financial aid research. The purpose of this study is to compare the demographic, socioeconomic, academic and financial aid characteristics of college students who receive employer-sponsored financial aid with students who receive traditional financial aid (institutional, state, or federal) and those that receive no aid at public 4-year universities. Using the 2007-08 data from the undergraduate National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08), we find that there are statistically significant differences between students who receive employer-sponsored aid and those who do not. Students receiving employer aid are older, are more likely to …

Changes To The Student Loan Experience: Psychological Predictors And Outcomes, Thomas Mueller

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This study builds on the work of scholars who have explored psychological perceptions of the student loan experience. Survey analysis (N = 175) revealed a multidimensional model was developed through factor analysis and testing, which revealed four latent variables: Duress, Mandatory, Financial, and Success. Duress and Mandatory were found to be independent unique predictors of the student loan process. Though perceptions were not differentiated among groups, a predominant segment of respondents did not recall their loan interest rates or terms of repayment. Respondents acknowledged the availability of loans but did not correlate availability to the value of university degrees and …