Higher Education Finance
The American higher education system is afflicted by a crisis of quality, affordability, and access that belies its role in building an equitable and just society. This has found most pernicious expression in the mounting problem of student debt, a $1.7 trillion burden affecting over 42 million people. This burden often now extends to students’ families, and is disproportionately shouldered by historically marginalized groups. Absent any meaningful constraint on college costs, the student debt trap risks putting higher education – and its promise of economic mobility – out of reach for ordinary and low-income Americans.
JFI approaches the problem of higher education finance in two principal ways. First, we analyze interlinked, nationally-representative datasets to offer a detailed picture of student debt, examining race, ethnicity and class intersections, labor markets, and the impacts of institution type and geographic concentration. With this analysis, we identify high-impact policy interventions to address the existing debt burden and the broader affordability crisis. Second, we design, consult on, and produce research on income-contingent financing, an alternative to traditional student loans under which students pledge a percent of their income over a limited period. Designed with adequate safeguards, income-contingent financing reduces students’ risk by ensuring their payments never exceed their ability to pay.
PARTNER WITH US
We welcome academic and philanthropic partners interested in using our student debt data for collaborative or independent research. We have collaborated with educational institutions, scholarship funds (notably, the Student Freedom Initiative), workforce development agencies, and a range of investors on income contingent finance pilots, and we welcome further inquiries. We also provide analytics, evaluation, and design consulting for existing providers in order to ensure equitable, transparent and accountable financing.
PARTNERS

Featured Partners
Higher Education Finance Contributors

Eduard Nilaj
Data Science Research Associate

Ege Aksu
Fellow

Francis Tseng
Lead Independent Researcher

Halah Ahmad
Vice President, Lead Researcher for Policy

Laura Beamer
Lead Researcher

Marshall Steinbaum
Senior Fellow

Roberta Costa
Research Manager

Sérgio Pinto
Fellow

Sidhya Balakrishnan
Director of Research

Yunjie Xie
Fellow
Related Publication Series

Millennial Student Debt
Recent Updates
JFI higher education research supplements grassroots “Debt-Free College” week of action
As part of the Higher Ed Not Debt campaign of Generation Progress, JFI joined other research and policy organizations to...
Investments in Tuition-Free College: Where the US has been and where America’s College Promise would take us
Join us for a Research Session with Peter Granville, Senior Policy Associate at The Century Foundation, drawing on his recent...
Laura Beamer in Open Campus
Scott Smallwood: "We spend a lot of time talking about the cost of college. But what if the numbers we’...
How Schools Lie: The Deceptive Financial Aid System at America’s Colleges
A view into how colleges mislead students about the true cost of college, which exacerbates delays in completion, drop outs,...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
New Research in Millennial Student Debt: How Schools Lie
In "How Schools Lie: The Deceptive Financial Aid System at America's Colleges," JFI researchers explore how higher education institutions mislead...
Student loans, the racial wealth divide, and why we need full student debt cancellation
“No matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
Marshall Steinbaum publishes new student debt research; Brookings event
A report focusing on three student debt–related outcomes: total individual balances, total required monthly payments, and whether an individual...
Hysteresis and Student Debt
Sérgio Pinto and Marshall Steinbaum bring together the labor economics literature on hysteresis and ongoing research into shape of...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
New Publication: The Right Way to Cancel Student Debt
A data-driven case for universal, automatic, and generous debt cancellation.
The Right Way to Cancel Student Debt
A collaboration between JFI and Debt Collective, the issue brief makes a data-driven case for universal, automatic, and generous debt...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
Laura Beamer speaks to Vox about student debt
"There are no easy answers on canceling student debt," writes Vox's Emily Stewart
Rules, Accountability, and the Student Debt Crisis
An overview of institutional trends in higher education which heavily influence student access and indebtedness.
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
Millennial Student Debt in Newsweek and NPR
Laura Beamer, Lead Researcher on Higher Education Finance, speaks about the student debt crisis
Student Debt and Young America Annual Report and Comparison Tool
This tool allows for interactive comparisons of higher education and debt statistics for specific geographic areas at the national, state...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
Student Debt and Young America: JFI’s annual report and new geographic comparison tool
The new report summarizes the state of student debt for 18 to 35 year olds; the accompanying comparison tool facilitates comparisons across...
Laura Beamer speaks to the Texas Standard about the student debt crisis
The conversation draws on JFI's Millennial Student Debt project
Millennial Student Debt maps win Dignity+Debt data visualization contest
Francis Tseng's maps show the geography of student debt across the United States
Business Insider, The American Prospect, Open Campus, Courier cover JFI’s Millennial Student Debt project
JFI's ongoing series on the higher education landscape provides evidence for the benefits of student debt cancellation
Yahoo! Finance features latest Millennial Student Debt report
Senior fellow Marshall Steinbaum's report on the growing burden of student debt forms part of the national conversation on debt...
The Student Debt Crisis Is a Crisis of (Non-)Repayment
Over the last ten years, as outstanding student loan debt has mounted and been assumed by a more diverse, less...
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt
JFI report by senior fellow Marshall Steinbaum examines the crisis of non-repayment of student debt
A new analysis in the Millennial Student Debt series finds that student debt loads are increasingly difficult for students to...
Announcing the Outcomes Center in collaboration with the San Diego Workforce Partnership
The Outcomes Center contains tools and information for workforce income share agreements
JFI student debt research featured in Higher Ed Not Debt campaign
In a week-long virtual action on the Hill for student loan forgiveness, Higher Ed Not Debt coalition members utilized JFI...
Congressional Overlay
An interactive map of congressional-level student debt trends from 2009 to 2019.
Part of the series Millennial Student Debt