Indicator: Student loan repayment
Definition
Individuals pay student loans on time and make progress toward paying down their debt.
RECOMMENDED METRIC(S)
Percentage of student borrowers in the following repayment categories, as defined on the College Scorecard—making progress, paid in full, and deferment—1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 years into the repayment phase of the loans1
1 “Making progress” refers to making regular payments such that the total of outstanding loan balances is less than the total of the original loan balances. “Paid in full” means the outstanding loan balance is $0 and the loan has not been discharged through bankruptcy or other means. “Deferment” refers to a postponement of the loan obligations, which is common for students re-enrolling in school. Borrowers who do not meet these milestones may fall in other categories, such as delinquency, default, and not making progress, that indicate they are unable to make timely progress toward their student debt.
Type(s) of Data Needed
Administrative dataWhy it matters
Student loan default has serious negative consequences, including restricted access to other loans, increased repayment amounts due to collection costs, and damaged credit. Compared to other racial and ethnic groups, Black college students are the most likely to borrow to pay for college: 50 percent of Black college students have student loans, compared to 26 percent of Asian students, 29 percent of Latino students, and 38 percent of White students. In addition, Black borrowers are the most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt, with almost a third having payments of $350 or more per month. Among borrowers, loan delinquency and default disproportionately impact Black and Latino students. Within six years of starting college, 32 percent of Black borrowers who had begun repayment defaulted on their loans, compared to 20 percent of Latino borrowers and 13 percent of White borrowers. First-generation college students are also more than twice as likely to experience delinquency than students with at least one parent who has earned a bachelor’s degree.
What to know about measurement
The College Scorecard publicly reports student loan repayment data at the institutional level two years after students enter the repayment phase of their loans. These data are based on individual records from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), the U.S. Department of Education’s central database for federal student aid loans and grants. College administrators have access to individual-level NSLDS records; students have access to their own information.
Source frameworks
This indicator appeared in the Institute for Higher Education Policy’s Postsecondary Metrics Framework. Our definition and proposed metric more closely draw from the categories defined by the College Scorecard, as noted above.
References
The framework's recommendations are based on syntheses of existing research. Please see the framework report for a list of works cited.