Search Results

The degree to which students are able to make adequate repayments on their student loans and avoid default is of special concern for colleges. If too many former students go into default, the college will face sanctions by the federal government and lose eligibility to provide currently enrolled students federal financial aid, such as the Pell grant. To avoid these sanctions, some colleges have chosen not to participate in federal loan programs by excluding loans from students' financial aid packages. In this article, [the author] investigates the student-level impacts associated with the decision of community colleges to opt out of the Stafford loan program. Utilizing administrative records from over 50 community colleges located in a single state, [the author] estimates the within-college differences in outcomes for Pell-eligible students before and after an institution opts out of the federal loan program. [The author] finds that Pell-eligible students enrolling when the community college offered federal loans were 7.6 percentage points more likely to borrow than Pell-eligible students who enrolled when the institutions opted out. Overall, borrowing also increased by 368 US dollars a year. [The author] also finds that students borrowing a loan attempted 19 additional credits in their first year of enrollment and were more likely to attempt and complete math and science courses than non-borrowers.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) is a large and growing Australian government programme that supports participation in higher education by providing income-contingent concessional loans to students to assist with the costs in education. Although the costs of HELP are included in the budget financial statements, they are not separately identified to allow the impact of the programme on the budget to be readily assessed. The cost of the HELP is growing strongly, driven by the introduction of the demand driven approach to higher education funding, recently announced policy decisions to reduce subsidies for university courses and to allow universities to set their own course fees, and expansion of HELP loans to vocational education.

This report discusses the size and costs of HELP and provides an estimate of the impact of the programme on the underlying cash balance. The analysis in this paper is based on the government's announced policies as at the 2015-16 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), including those that are yet to be legislated.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

Since its introduction in 1989, the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) has greatly expanded access to tertiary education in Australia. But with $52 billion of HELP debt outstanding, this report argues that the government has to find ways to control its costs. It is proposed that a 15 per cent loan fee on all new tertiary education lending could save the Commonwealth $700 million a year and make HELP more affordable for government. The fee would help to offset the government's interest costs, while being fair to all students and preserving the loan program's social goals. As now, there would be no upfront charges with a universal loan fee. The loan fee would be added to the student's total debt and would only affect graduates at the end of their repayment periods when their incomes are generally higher. And because of HELP's income contingent repayment system, students and graduates on low incomes would not have to repay their loan fee. But loan fees would encourage students who can afford to pay upfront to do so. Loan fees are both fair and necessary. Without change, HELP's costs will escalate, risking damaging cuts to other education programs.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less

The Australian Government provides income-contingent loans to eligible students through the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), which removes up-front cost barriers to tertiary education and training. HELP provides students with loans to cover relevant costs associated with higher education. Students are required to repay the loan(s) once their income reaches a minimum threshold. HELP is regulated by provisions in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and is administered by the Department of Education and Training (Education). HELP debt and repayments are collected and managed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). A memorandum of understanding sets out the arrangements between Education and the ATO in relation to the administration of HELP. As at 30 June 2015, the value of total outstanding HELP debt was $44.1 billion, associated with approximately 2.2 million payees. The estimated value of the debt that is not expected to be collected is around $10.2 billion. This debt is projected to continue growing to approximately $67.6 billion by 2017-18, with almost 23 per cent of that debt not expected to be collected. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of HELP debt and repayments. To form a conclusion against this objective the audit examined whether: (1) the ATO and Education fulfil their responsibilities as set out in the memorandum of understanding, and Education effectively monitors HELP debt and repayments to inform program decision-making; (2) the ATO effectively supports employers and payees to meet their responsibilities in relation to HELP withholdings and repayments, and detects and deters those that do not; (3) and the ATO accurately records debts, repayments, write-offs, waivers and deferments, and effectively collects outstanding HELP debt.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

This report presents the findings from a Youthsight survey of undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates about the government's proposed postgraduate master's loan. The survey focused on: motivations and barriers to postgraduate master's study; perceptions about the terms of the proposed loan; and potential response to the loan.

Edited summary from publisher's website. Show less

The moment they earn their bachelor's degrees, black college graduates owe $7,400 more on average than their white peers ($23,400 versus $16,000, including non-borrowers in the averages). But over the next few years, the black-white debt gap more than triples to a whopping $25,000. Differences in interest accrual and graduate school borrowing lead to black graduates holding nearly $53,000 in student loan debt four years after graduation - almost twice as much as their white counterparts. While previous work has documented racial disparities in student borrowing, delinquencies, and defaults, in this report [the authors] provide new evidence that racial gaps in total debt are far larger than even recent reports have recognized, far larger now than in the past, and correlated with troubling trends in the economy and in the for-profit sector. [The authors] conclude with a discussion of policy implications.

Published executive summary. Show less

Reviewing proposals for improving the complex array of federal student aid programs, [the authors] find agreement on some broad policy directions but considerable differences of opinion about the details. Many advocates support automatically placing student borrowers into income-driven repayment plans, which set payments at some percentage of discretionary income. And virtually no one argues against consolidating tuition tax credits and deductions into one credit. This comprehensive report examines over 20 proposals for reforming student loan repayment and education tax credits and deductions, evaluating the equity and efficiency of proposed provisions and providing recommendations for strengthening these components of federal student aid.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less