Debt Burden: A Comparison of 1992-93 and 1999-2000 Bachelor's Degree Recipients a Year After Graduating. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports

摘要

Two important changes during the 1990s had major implications for borrowing for undergraduate education. First, the price of going to college increased faster than inflation (The College Board 2003a). Second, the 1992 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act increased loan limits for the Stafford loan program, expanded eligibility for need-based aid, and introduced unsubsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates regardless of their financial need. The resulting increase in federal borrowing was immediate and dramatic. After adjusting for inflation, the federal loan volume for undergraduate and graduate borrowing increased by 35 percent the first year after the change (1992-93 to 1993-94) (The College Board 2003b). Between 1992-93 and 2002-03, it grew from $20.7 billion (in constant 2002 dollars) to $49.1 billion, an increase of 137 percent. This report uses the 1994 and 2001 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) to compare the borrowing patterns of 1992-93 and 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients. It also examines their repayment situations and resulting debt burdens (defined as monthly loan payments as a percentage of monthly salary income a year after they graduated).