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Report
Borrower Transitions into Student Loan Repayment: Evidence from Fall 2023 Consumer Survey Data
This special report launches our new series on student loan payments resumption, which provides a sequence of updates to our previous report, published on November 6, 2023, and draws on novel data collected in October and November 2023.
Report
Back in the Loan Game: What Can We Expect from the Student Loan Payment Resumption?
The student loan repayment landscape has evolved rapidly, with many borrowers resuming payments for the first time since the payment pause began in April 2020. In this Special Report, we analyze current publicly available payments data and share insights from a July 2023 survey by the Consumer Finance Institute (CFI).
Report
Beyond the Minimum: Excess Student Loan Payments in Summer and Fall 2023
We provided a view into borrower expectations for resumed payments on the eve of the student loan payment pause coming to an end in our previous report, which was the first in our series on student loan payments resumption. Our report showed that most borrowers successfully resumed payments and expected to continue being able to make payments through the end of 2023, but segments of the student borrower population have not resolved their repayment struggles despite available relief. The trends we identified in the data reflected any debt cancellation granted to borrowers in 2023, loan payoffs ...
Report
SAVE Your Guesses: Borrower Expectations for Enrollment in the New SAVE Income-Driven Repayment Plan
As the end of the pandemic-era payment pause on federal student loans was announced, the U.S. Department of Education introduced measures to help ease borrowers back into repayment. One such measure included a change to the menu of repayment plans that are offered to borrowers to reduce their scheduled monthly payments. In this third report in our series on the student loan payments resumption, we consider borrower awareness of, intended enrollment in, and estimated payment reductions from the most recent and most generous income-driven repayment (IDR) plan yet: the Saving on a Valuable ...
Working Paper
The Effect of Student Loan Payment Burdens on Borrower Outcomes
Rising student loan debt and concerns over unaffordable payments provide a rationale for the broad class of “income-driven repayment” (IDR) plans for federal student loans. These plans aim to protect borrowers from delinquency, default, and resulting financial consequences by linking payments to income and providing forgiveness after a set repayment period. We estimate the causal effect of IDR payment burdens on loan repayment and schooling outcomes for several cohorts of first-time IDR applicants using a regression discontinuity design. Federal student loan borrowers who are not required ...
Report
Resetting Wallets: Survey Evidence on Household Budget Adjustments with Student Loan Payments Resumption
In this fourth report of our series on the federal student loan payments resumption that began on October 1, 2023, we examine how student loan borrowers expected to change their earning, borrowing, saving, and spending behaviors and their household budgets coinciding with the return to repayment. Borrowers began considering adjustments to their household budgets after the end of the payments pause was announced in early July 2023 and continued to do so through the summer. This occurred amid several developments: changing macroeconomic and policy environments, concurrent transitions in ...