Working Paper: NBER ID: w23118
Authors: Tiffany Chou; Adam Looney; Tara Watson
Abstract: Low- and middle-income college borrowers often struggle with economic opportunity and loan burdens after leaving school. However, some institutions, including some non-selective schools, do a good job of providing economic mobility to low-income students. This implies that there is scope for a policy to redirect loan dollars – and therefore students – from low-performing schools to higher-performing ones. Here we define a particular metric of institutional loan performance, the cohort repayment rate, and describe its distribution. We demonstrate that the cohort repayment rate is correlated with other institutional outcomes of interest, and thus could be used as an institutional accountability tool.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H52; I22; I23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| institutional quality (L15) | cohort repayment rate (G51) |
| cohort repayment rate (G51) | economic mobility for low-income students (I24) |
| institutional quality (L15) | student outcomes (A21) |
| institutional quality (L15) | outcomes for low-income students (I24) |
| high-opportunity institutions (I23) | outcomes for low-income students (I24) |
| cohort repayment rate (G51) | student success (I24) |
| poor outcomes for low-income students (I24) | poor outcomes for high-income students (I24) |
| federal loan dollars redirected to institutions with better repayment rates (I23) | enhanced student outcomes (I24) |