1
2020–2022Build the IDR evidence base
National and borrower data establish who uses IDR and how repayment relates to financial outcomes.
← Research & Public Scholarship
Main research arc
Student Debt & Repayment
Research on how repayment policies and administrative systems shape borrowers' finances, trust, well-being, careers, and decisions about the future.
Public Service Loan ForgivenessIncome-Driven RepaymentAdministrative burdenBorrower well-being
Current public research project · Ongoing
More Than a Monthly Payment
An interactive mixed-methods project connecting survey patterns with interviews and audio from student-loan borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. It makes visible how debt reaches beyond a balance sheet—into household budgets, moving rules, administrative labor, delayed adulthood, trust, and distress.
15analytic themes67borrower interviews in the current qualitative corpus
Supporting PSLF public project · 2022–2023
The Work of Repayment
A focused PSLF companion pairing a 2022 survey of 2,361 public-service borrowers with Summer 2023 interviews. The project traces qualifying-payment progress, forgiveness uncertainty, administrative work, household decisions, and the promise of relief through an interactive data explorer and eight qualitative themes.
Explore The Work of Repayment2,361survey respondents
93interview participants
8qualitative themes
Choose your pathway
What brings you to this research?
Start with the big findings, then open any study for a plain-language explanation.
Research journey
How the agenda developed
Follow the questions as they move from lived experience to outcomes, systems, and public meaning.
2
2022–2023Center PSLF borrowers
The Work of Repayment connects a 2022 PSLF-only survey with Summer 2023 interviews about forgiveness, uncertainty, administrative labor, and well-being.
3
2024–2025Trace policy transitions
Studies follow payment resumption, forgiveness, peer information, and the lived meaning of relief.
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OngoingOpen the evidence to the public
More Than a Monthly Payment and the Borrower Voices Library remain the primary public project and interview collection, with The Work of Repayment adding a focused PSLF companion.
Interactive research map
Trace the pathway through the evidence
Select a stage to see the studies that examine it. The map synthesizes relationships across the research program; it does not imply that every connection is causal.
More than one-third of survey respondents fell in the serious-distress category.
Source: More Than a Monthly Payment survey ↗Forgiveness was imagined as long-term security and a different financial future for the next generation.
Source: More Than a Monthly Payment interviews ↗The payment pause created room to save and changed how some families understood their financial security.
Source: Pause and Effect ↗After forgiveness, career mobility became a real option—even for borrowers who chose to remain in public service.
Source: Dub Thee, The Forgiven ↗Across the evidence
Select a finding to trace its evidence
Choosing a finding filters the study collection to the research that supports it.
Interactive evidence library
Explore the studies
Filter the collection, then open a study for its question, method, findings, implication, citation, and connections.
7of 7 studies shown
Qualitative2024Pause and Effect
This study examines how the federal student-loan payment pause changed the financial lives of borrowers pursuing PSLF. It also explores how the anticipated return to repayment affected family planning, household decisions, and psychological well-being.
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How did the federal payment pause—and the prospect of repayment restarting—shape the lives of borrowers pursuing PSLF?
Qualitative interviews with Public Service Loan Forgiveness borrowers.
Major findings
- The payment pause created meaningful financial breathing room.
- Borrowers incorporated the pause into household and family decisions.
- The return to repayment carried financial and psychological consequences.
Why it matters
Temporary repayment policy changes can become part of borrowers' long-term planning; transitions back to repayment require clear communication and attention to well-being.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. Pause and Effect. SSRN working paper.
Read the full studyQualitative2024Dub Thee, The Forgiven
This study asks what achieving PSLF forgiveness meant to borrowers after years of repayment and program navigation. Borrowers described changes in financial freedom, career autonomy, mental distress, and their overall sense of what was possible.
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What does receiving PSLF forgiveness mean to borrowers after years of repayment and program navigation?
Qualitative accounts from borrowers who achieved forgiveness through PSLF.
Major findings
- Forgiveness expanded borrowers' sense of financial freedom.
- Career and life choices felt less constrained after discharge.
- Relief extended beyond finances to mental and emotional well-being.
Why it matters
Forgiveness is experienced as a life transition, not merely a balance adjustment, with consequences for work, family, and well-being.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. Dub Thee, The Forgiven. SSRN working paper.
Read the full studyQuantitative2025Jubilee and Jubilation Update
Using an expanded borrower sample, this study examines how progress toward PSLF relates to financial outcomes and subjective well-being. It broadens the evaluation of forgiveness by considering borrowers' quality of life alongside repayment status.
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How is progress toward—or receipt of—PSLF associated with borrowers' financial and subjective well-being?
An expanded quantitative sample of borrowers at different stages of the PSLF process.
Major findings
- The study connects PSLF status to multiple dimensions of well-being.
- Financial outcomes and subjective experiences are examined together.
- Repayment progress provides an important lens for understanding borrower differences.
Why it matters
Evaluating forgiveness programs requires measures that extend beyond balances and payment status to the quality of borrowers' lives.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. An Update to Jubilee and Jubilation. SSRN working paper.
Read the full studyQualitative2024Informing Trust
This study examines how PSLF borrowers use online communities when official information is incomplete or difficult to interpret. These communities provide practical administrative guidance while also helping borrowers rebuild trust and develop a sense of belonging.
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How do online borrower communities respond to information gaps and uncertainty within PSLF?
Qualitative evidence focused on PSLF borrowers' use of online communities.
Major findings
- Borrowers turned to peers for practical program guidance.
- Online communities helped fill gaps left by official communication.
- Shared navigation created both trust and a sense of belonging.
Why it matters
When official systems are difficult to interpret, administrative work shifts to borrowers and their informal networks.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. Informing Trust. SSRN working paper.
Read the full studyQuantitative2020Exploring IDR
This exploratory study compares borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment with those using traditional repayment plans. It situates monthly payments within a wider financial picture that includes savings, retirement participation, and homeownership.
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How do the financial situations and behaviors of IDR participants compare with borrowers in traditional repayment?
Exploratory quantitative comparison of borrowers across repayment-plan types.
Major findings
- Repayment-plan groups differ across several financial characteristics.
- Savings, retirement participation, and homeownership broaden the analysis beyond monthly payments.
- Observed differences require careful interpretation because borrowers select into repayment plans.
Why it matters
Repayment plans should be studied within borrowers' broader financial lives, while avoiding simple causal interpretations of group differences.
Connected studies
Collier. Exploring IDR. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 49(2).
Read the full studyQuantitative2021Another Lesson on Caution
Using the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study tests how analytic choices affect conclusions about IDR and borrower outcomes. The findings demonstrate why model specification and borrower selection require caution when interpreting national repayment data.
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How do analytic choices affect conclusions about IDR participation and borrower financial outcomes?
2019 Survey of Consumer Finances analyzed under alternative model specifications.
Major findings
- Model specification materially shapes the apparent relationship between IDR and financial outcomes.
- National survey data offer useful reach but also important limitations.
- Borrower selection and measurement choices complicate simple comparisons.
Why it matters
Policy claims about IDR should be calibrated to the data and methods used; analytic caution is essential.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. Another Lesson on Caution in IDR Analysis. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 50(2).
Read the full studyQuantitative2022IDR, Demographics & Outcomes
This study examines which borrower characteristics are associated with enrollment in income-driven repayment. It also considers how IDR participation relates to longer-term indicators of financial security, including retirement saving and homeownership.
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Which borrower characteristics are associated with IDR enrollment, and how does enrollment relate to key financial outcomes?
Quantitative borrower data examining IDR participation, demographics, retirement saving, and homeownership.
Major findings
- IDR participation is patterned by borrower characteristics.
- Retirement saving and homeownership connect repayment to longer-term financial security.
- Associations should be interpreted in light of selection into repayment plans.
Why it matters
Understanding IDR requires attention to who enrolls and to financial outcomes that unfold far beyond the immediate payment amount.
Connected studies
Collier and colleagues. Exploring the Relationship of Enrollment in IDR. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 51(2).
Read the full study