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Increasing Enrollment in Income‐Driven Student Loan Repayment Plans: Evidence from the Navient Field Experiment

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  • HOLGER MUELLER
  • CONSTANTINE YANNELIS

Abstract

We report evidence from a randomized field experiment conducted by a major student loan servicer, Navient, in which student loan borrowers received prepopulated applications for income‐driven repayment (IDR) plans. Treatment increased IDR enrollment by 34 percentage points relative to the control group. Using the random treatment assignment as an instrument for IDR enrollment, we furthermore provide local average treatment effect (LATE) estimates of the effects of IDR enrollment on new delinquencies, monthly student loan payments, and consumer spending. Our study is the first field‐experimental evaluation of a U.S. government program designed to address the soaring debt burdens of U.S. households.

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  • Holger Mueller & Constantine Yannelis, 2022. "Increasing Enrollment in Income‐Driven Student Loan Repayment Plans: Evidence from the Navient Field Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 367-402, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:77:y:2022:i:1:p:367-402
    DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13088
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    Cited by:

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    2. Catherine, Sylvain & Yannelis, Constantine, 2023. "The distributional effects of student loan forgiveness," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 297-316.
    3. Tomás Monarrez & Lesley J. Turner, 2024. "The Effect of Student Loan Payment Burdens on Borrower Outcomes," Working Papers 24-08, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    4. Ege Aksu & Sidhya Balakrishnan & Eric Bettinger & Jonathan S. Hartley & Michael S. Kofoed & Dubravka Ritter & Douglas A. Webber, 2024. "Navigating Higher Education Insurance: An Experimental Study on Demand and Adverse Selection"," Working Papers 24-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    5. Matteo Binfarè & Kyle Zimmerschied, 2024. "The Role of Debt in Financing Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: Financing Institutions of Higher Education, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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