Statistics on student debt, including the average debt at graduation, the percentage of graduates who owed large debt at graduation and the percentage of graduates with debt who had paid it off at the time of the interview, are presented by the province of study and the level of study. Estimates are available at five-year intervals.

As the pandemic accelerated calls to provide relief to millions of student borrowers, President Biden announced executive action to cancel 10,000 dollars of student debt for most federal student loan holders. Both prior to and following his announcement, policymakers have debated the merits and details of student debt relief, focusing particular attention on the perceived deservingness of student loan borrowers. But we have little systematic evidence about how the public evaluates borrower deservingness, or whether elite arguments framing support or opposition to debt relief in terms of deservingness influence public preferences for student debt cancellation. This paper employs original conjoint and framing experiments conducted just prior to Biden’s announcement to explore each query. We find that, while certain borrower characteristics indicating need (e.g., amount of debt), responsibility for debt (e.g., type of institution attended), and reciprocity (e.g., time in repayment) can influence people’s evaluations of whether borrowers deserve debt relief, those results may not translate to broader deservingness arguments for or against student debt cancellation in a clear manner. Ultimately, our results shed light on a timely policy issue, while extending scholarly understandings of deservingness for a critical, and understudied, aspect of the American welfare state.

Includes Appendix, Stata Do File, and Replication Data associated with the PRQ paper.

The State Loan Repayment Program helps HRSA provide grant funding for states and territories to operate their own loan repayment programs. Through SLRP each state and territory can design programs that address the most pressing health care needs of their residents. Primary medical, mental/behavioral, and dental clinicians who receive awards through SLRP-funded programs pay off their student debt in exchange for working in areas with provider shortages.HRSA programs provide equitable health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. This includes programs that deliver health services to people with HIV, pregnant people, mothers and their families, those with low incomes, residents of rural areas, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and those otherwise unable to access high-quality health care. HRSA programs also support health infrastructure, including through training of health professionals and distributing them to areas where they are needed most, providing financial support to health care providers, and advancing telehealth. Location and data was provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration in October 2022. Update Frequency: Annual