Search

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, going to college has become increasingly financially difficult in the United States. Tuition prices continued to rise, state funding for higher education declined, and the mean family income declined or stagnated for all but the top 20 percent of families (Goldrick-Rab 2016). In a period where college has risen to be the preeminent way Americans can make a better life for themselves, it is becoming more difficult for Americans to pay for college. Financial aid does not cover as much of the price of college as it once did (Goldrick-Rab 2016), and college students are relying on financing methods like student loans more than ever before. Student loans, however, are not the only credit-based financial strategy college students use to pay for college (Manning 2000, 2005). With the explosion of consumer credit access from the 1980s to the 2000s, college students are using credit cards, many times to bridge gaps in their budgets as they try to pay for college. This paper utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study (2002–12) to examine the link between college student credit card use and bachelor's degree attainment and demonstrates that college students who carry a balance on their credit card from month to month have a lower likelihood of completing a bachelor’s degree, net of other important factors. Research in the fields of financial counseling and planning, consumer studies, public policy, sociology, and health has explored college student credit card spending behaviors, associated health and educational outcomes, and the influence of family backgrounds on credit card use. This paper extends this existing body of research by considering how college student credit card use influences educational outcomes.

Students who delay college enrollment after they graduate from high school have a lower chance of completing a college degree compared to students who enroll in college immediately after high school. This article explores delayers’ involvement in high-impact postsecondary campus activities to understand whether participation in high-impact activities is associated with bachelor’s degree attainment for students who delay enrollment. This study found that overall involvement in high-impact activities was associated with greater odds of bachelor’s degree attainment for all students, but students who delay entry into college do not benefit any differently than immediate-enrollment students from involvement in these activities. Participation in high-impact activities is only related to bachelor’s degree attainment in a minor way compared to other variables like students’ socioeconomic background and high school grade point average. This finding suggests that although high-impact practices may play a ro...

Nearly half of all first-time undergraduates take a loan to pay for college, and many students will borrow tens of thousands of dollars by the time they leave. Low-income students and students of color borrow student loans more often and in larger amounts, yet attend less selective institutions, are more likely to drop out with debt. Among students who complete college, those with larger amounts of debt may struggle to pay back their loans or to invest in a house, family, or future education. Researchers are just beginning to untangle how the availability and use of student loans affects college access, educational attainment, and life after college, yet this topic has important implications for economic inequality and social stratification. In this article, we summarize what is known and what remains to be investigated, about the impact of student loan availability and use on college enrollment, degree completion, and postcollege outcomes.