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671 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (2017)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0671 and id is 1 raw text is: Introduction:
Connecting
Student Loan
Research and
Federal Policy
By
NICHOLAS HILLMAN
and
KATA OROSZ

This article introduces this volume, which is dedicated
to expanding a theory- and evidence-based understand-
ing of student loan problems. The authors review evi-
dence to address fundamental questions related to
student loan research: who borrows, why, and the con-
sequences of debt for specific student populations. The
authors outline how the articles collected in the volume
address these fundamental questions, and discuss ways
in which federal policy-makers may build on the insights
that can be gained from this volume as they work on the
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
Keywords: higher education; student loans; student
debt; financial aid policy
Today, 41.5 million Americans owe more
than $1.2 trillion in outstanding federal
student loan debt (U.S. Department of
Education 2016). This debt has tripled over the
past decade, making student loans the second-
largest line of consumer credit behind only
home mortgages (Federal Reserve Bank of
New York 2016). These trends often attract
media attention, illustrated by stories of recent
college graduates carrying $100,000 in student
loans and unable to repay their debt, buy a
home, save for retirement, or start small busi-
nesses (McDonald and Brady 2014). Such sto-
ries are provocative, but they often focus on
Nicholas Hillman is an associate professor of educa-
tional leadership and policy analysis at the Univerit y
of Wisconsin-Madison. His research examines how
postsecondary finance intersects with college access and
equity. He is also a faculty affiliate for the Wisconsin
Center for Postsecondary Education and the Laollette
School of Public Affairs.
Kata Orosz is an associate research fellow at the Yehuda
Elkana Center for Higher Education at Central
European University, Hungary. In her dissertation, she
studied predictors of student loan use among under-
graduates at four-year colleges and universities.
Correspondence: nwhillman@wisc.edu
DOI: 10.1177/0002716217704162

ANNALS, AAPSS, 671, May 2017

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