Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment
As policymakers grapple with whether or not to forgive student debt, for who, and how much, it is important to explore how student debt forgiveness would relate to intended household decisions and behaviors. We conducted a survey experiment that asked participants with student debt to imagine a scen...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Socius |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231196778 |
| _version_ | 1797658496265617408 |
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| author | Jason Jabbari Stephen Roll Mathieu Despard Leah Hamilton |
| author_facet | Jason Jabbari Stephen Roll Mathieu Despard Leah Hamilton |
| author_sort | Jason Jabbari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As policymakers grapple with whether or not to forgive student debt, for who, and how much, it is important to explore how student debt forgiveness would relate to intended household decisions and behaviors. We conducted a survey experiment that asked participants with student debt to imagine a scenario in which the federal government forgave a certain amount of student debt. We then had these participants report on how this would affect their decisions and behaviors. A total of 1,053 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that featured different levels of student debt forgiveness. Our results indicate that student debt is strongly influencing intended decisions and behaviors that can have large implications for household economic stability (e.g., emergency savings) and social mobility (e.g., saving for a down payment on a home). These results also demonstrate that the amount of student debt forgiveness matters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:59:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b05607bf2994e31bc92786d467a67db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-0231 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:59:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Socius |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b05607bf2994e31bc92786d467a67db2023-10-17T09:04:51ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312023-10-01910.1177/23780231231196778Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey ExperimentJason Jabbari0Stephen Roll1Mathieu Despard2Leah Hamilton3Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USAWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USAUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USAAppalachian State, Boone, NC, USAAs policymakers grapple with whether or not to forgive student debt, for who, and how much, it is important to explore how student debt forgiveness would relate to intended household decisions and behaviors. We conducted a survey experiment that asked participants with student debt to imagine a scenario in which the federal government forgave a certain amount of student debt. We then had these participants report on how this would affect their decisions and behaviors. A total of 1,053 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that featured different levels of student debt forgiveness. Our results indicate that student debt is strongly influencing intended decisions and behaviors that can have large implications for household economic stability (e.g., emergency savings) and social mobility (e.g., saving for a down payment on a home). These results also demonstrate that the amount of student debt forgiveness matters.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231196778 |
| spellingShingle | Jason Jabbari Stephen Roll Mathieu Despard Leah Hamilton Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment Socius |
| title | Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment |
| title_full | Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment |
| title_fullStr | Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment |
| title_short | Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment |
| title_sort | student debt forgiveness and economic stability social mobility and quality of life decisions results from a survey experiment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231196778 |
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