Student Loan Repayment: Research, Data, and Policy

Posted by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on August 3, 2015

A Conference Organized by the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

September 17-18, 2015
Opening Keynote: Susan Dynarski, Professor of Public Policy, Education, and Economics, University of Michigan

Closing Keynote: Caroline Hoxby, Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics, Stanford University

It is well established that attending college generates significant public as well as private returns. By facilitating college attendance, a robust educational credit market can produce important benefits, both in terms of efficiency and equity. But student loans have become controversial as consumers are having more difficulty meeting their debt payments. Delinquency rates on student loans have nearly doubled over the past decade. Default rates on federally supported student loan programs are at their highest level in 15 years. Compared with other types of consumer credit, much less is known about the determinants of borrowing, repayment, and default on student loans.

This Payment Cards Center conference will outline important policy-relevant questions and examine our capacity for answering these questions given the data currently available. The agenda incorporates the diverse perspectives and experience of researchers studying education and consumer credit, student lenders and servicers, financial educators, financial aid officers, and policymakers. By considering the different stages of a student loan — origination, servicing, and default management — we will focus on the factors that affect student loan repayment and the ways in which rigorous research, based on innovative data sources and practitioner-researcher partnerships, can inform best practices and policymaking.

To view the agenda or register, please visit our event webpage.

http://www.cvent.com/events/student-loan-repayment-research-data-and-policy/event-summary-4fcca3d97de6476bb3e23c91a48357cf.aspx

If you would like to forward this to someone, please contact Karen Burnham at karen.burnham@phil.frb.org. For additional information, please contact conference organizers Dubravka Ritter at 215-574-6018 or dubravka.ritter@phil.frb.org or Rajeev Darolia at 573-884-5247 or daroliar@missouri.edu.