Taken for Granted? Effects of Loan-Reduction Initiatives on Student Borrowing, Admission Metrics, and Campus Diversity

Christopher Bennett, Brent Evans and Christopher Marsicano ()
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Brent Evans: Vanderbilt University

Research in Higher Education, 2021, vol. 62, issue 5, No 1, 569-599

Abstract: Abstract In recent decades, several dozen colleges and universities have instituted loan-reduction initiatives (LRIs), such as “no-loan” programs. Institutions frequently cast such initiatives as efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity on campus. Using a difference-in-differences analytic strategy with national institution-level data, we examine the effect of LRI adoption at 54 institutions on three sets of outcomes: student borrowing, admission metrics, and campus diversity. Our analysis suggests LRIs decreased institution-level borrowing rates at private institutions, with no detected change at public institutions. Consistent with stated program goals, LRI adoption increased the number of Pell Grant recipients at both public and private institutions. However, adopting LRIs at public institutions reduced racial/ethnic diversity, suggesting possible trade-offs for LRI adoption in terms of student body diversity.

Keywords: Postsecondary education; Student loans; No-loan programs; Socioeconomic diversity; Racial diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I22 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s11162-020-09615-7

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