Three Approaches for Improving College Access and Affordability

President Biden recently announced that the federal government will forgive $10,000 in undergraduate student loans for borrowers earning less than $125,000; students who received a Pell grant in college can receive an additional $10,000 of debt forgiveness. The Biden Administration also announced both a final three-month pause on student loan payments and a more permanent solution for borrowers: a new repayment plan that would allow certain undergraduate borrowers to pay half as much as they currently pay per month while covering their unpaid interest.

This debt forgiveness plan will undoubtedly help the 45.4 million recipients of federal student loans,ⁱ and it will disproportionately help borrowers who are Black, Hispanic, and first-generation college students, who typically must borrow more than their peers to pay for college.^{ii, iii}  However, moving forward, Biden’s plan doesn’t address the challenges that college affordability present to degree attainment for current and future students. Low-income students are much less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree compared to their peers, and this disparity is linked, in part, to affordability. Differences in bachelor’s degree attainment rates, by income,^iv are drivers of wealth and income gaps.

Long-term solutions for making college more affordable would likely require a large restructuring of how higher education is funded, both at the federal and state levels. These changes are important but are politically difficult. In the interim, we suggest other ways that researchers and policymakers can support students while working within the existing funding structure for postsecondary education.

3. Understand how to help students overcome other, non-financial barriers. Financial support is important, but it’s not the only reason students don’t enroll in or complete college. Supports for college-going students differ in how they are delivered, and the extent to which they impact students’ college success. Abt research has shown that real-time, consistent support and counselling delivered in-person and through text messages can help students complete necessary steps to enroll in college, and plan for college costs, but these supports are likely insufficient to encourage students on the cusp of enrolling to do so. Customized supports to meet students where they are may be necessary to help a wider set of students overcome barriers to college enrollment. Evaluating which supports benefit students continues an important research area in postsecondary research.

Postsecondary education research and evaluation helps policy makers, practitioners, administrators, and other stakeholders learn how best to help students succeed. Policy experiments on a larger scale, such as the ESI, can help the Department of Education better serve students through federal financial aid policy. More targeted evaluations—focusing on a specific intervention for a specific population—also help stakeholders develop tactics to promote equity in postsecondary education. The next few years will likely bring new challenges in college affordability, as many students may return to college after time away linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The debt forgiveness has bought students time; let’s use it to develop longer-term solutions for all.

ⁱMa, J. (2021). Trends in college pricing and student aid 2021. College Board. Retrieved from: https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/trends-college-pricing-student-aid-2021.pdf

ⁱⁱBetween 2009 and 2019, median student debt increased 31 percent for Black borrowers, 23 percent for Hispanic borrowers, and 19 percent for white borrowers. These figures have not kept up with income growth over the same period. Source: Perry, A. M., Steinbaum, M., & Romer, C. (2021). Student loans, the racial wealth divide, and why we need full student debt cancellation. The Brookings Institution, June, 23. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/student-loans-the-racial-wealth-divide-and-why-we-need-full-student-debt-cancellation/

ⁱⁱⁱGrinstein-Weiss, M., Perantie, D. C., Taylor, S. H., Guo, S., & Raghavan, R. (2016). Racial disparities in education debt burden among low-and moderate-income households. Children and youth services review, 65, 166-174.

^ivCahalan, M. W., Addison, M., Brunt, N., Patel, P. R., Vaughan III, T., Genao, A., & Perna, L. W. (2022). Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2022 Historical Trend Report. Pell institute for the study of opportunity in higher education. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED620557.pdf