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Past Policy 2020 Event

Student loans: A look at the evidence

Past Event

Introduction

Loan burdens and defaults: Failure of the repayment system or failures in accountability?
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Loan burdens and defaults: Failure of the repayment system or failures in accountability?

Should we raise or lower the ceilings on amounts students and parents can borrow?
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Should we raise or lower the ceilings on amounts students and parents can borrow?

How big a macro-economic problem is the run up in student debt?
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How big a macro-economic problem is the run up in student debt?

Americans have borrowed heavily to go to college. Student debt now amounts to $1.5 trillion, more than Americans owe on their credit cards. More than 10 percent of that debt is 90 days delinquent or in default. And student loans have become a potent political issue. The Trump administration has rolled back some of the limits and rules imposed by the Obama administration, and several Democratic presidential candidates are proposing to forgive some or all student loans, or to make the first two years of college (and sometimes more) free of tuition.

To inject rigorous research and evidence into this heated debate, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings invited half a dozen economists with expertise in this area to discuss some of the big questions and controversies.

Agenda

Introduction

Loan burdens and defaults: Failure of the repayment system or failures in accountability?

Dubravka Ritter

Senior Research Fellow - Consumer Finance Institute, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Should we raise or lower the ceilings on amounts students and parents can borrow?

Matthew Chingos

Vice President, Education Data and Policy - Urban Institute

How big a macro-economic problem is the run up in student debt?

Sandy Baum

Nonresident Fellow, Center on Education Data and Policy - Urban Institute

Laura J. Feiveson

Chief, Household and Business Spending Section, Division of Research and Statistics - Federal Reserve Board

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