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Consolidation of Student Loan Repayments and Default Incentives

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  • Ionescu Felicia A

    (Colgate University)

Abstract

I study repayment behavior for college graduates who borrow under the U.S. Federal Student Loan Program to finance higher education. I develop a dynamic model with uninsurable shocks to earnings and student loan rates that explains the repayment pattern in U.S. data: college graduates with lower debt will lock-in interest rates, while those with higher debt will switch to an income-contingent plan. Default does not occur among the most financially constrained group of college graduates. I use the model to quantify the effects of a reform introduced in 2006 that eliminates the possibility to lock-in interest rates for student loans. The reform induces a significant increase in default rates, which is largely accounted for by low-income borrowers.

Suggested Citation

  • Ionescu Felicia A, 2008. "Consolidation of Student Loan Repayments and Default Incentives," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-37, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejmac:v:8:y:2008:i:1:n:22
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1690.1682
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    Cited by:

    1. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.
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    3. Roberto M. Samaniego & Juliana Yu Sun, 2019. "Entrepreneurship, College, and Credit: The Golden Triangle," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(7), pages 1765-1813, October.
    4. Eckwert, Bernhard & Zilcha, Itzhak, 2010. "Improvement in information and private investment in education," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 585-597, April.

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