“A new study found that student loans, despite their toxic reputation, helped recipients earn better grades, take more classes and graduate sooner,” writes Douglas Belkin in the Wall Street Journal.
He continues:
The study counters a drumbeat of bad news about student debt, which has nearly tripled in the last decade and been blamed for everything from hindering homeownership to damping the willingness to switch jobs or go to graduate school.
The five-year research project, which followed 20,000 students at an urban community college, found that taking out loans averaging $4,000 enabled the students to work less and study more while also providing a cushion against emergencies.
The study, “The Benefits of Borrowing: Evidence on student loan debt and community college attainment,” by , will appear in the Winter 2019 issue of Education Next and was released online this week.
A story about the study, “The Benefits Of Taking Out Loans For College,” ran on NPR’s Morning Edition on November 14, 2018.
-Education Next
