Repay As You Earn: The Flawed Government Program to Help Students Have Public Service Careers

(Hardback)

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In 1993, Congress created a student loan repayment plan intended to enable high-debt graduates to accept low-income, public service jobs by reducing their loan payments and eventually forgiving part of their debts. But this Congressional initiative only helps those with catastrophically low incomes. It has failed to attract many users because, as implemented through regulations of the U.S. Department of Education, it requires payment over too long a period (25 years before forgiveness). Many students go to graduate and professional schools in pursuit of careers in public service. But they often must borrow $100,000 or more to finance their education. Their loan repayment obligations become so high that they can no longer afford to follow their ideals, and they abandon their plans to have public service careers and seek employment with corporations or firms offering high salaries. The income-contingent repayment plan should have appealed to would-be public interest lawyers, who are among the graduates with the highest debt-to-income ratios; but the plan has failed them, and Schrag explores why and how the plan should be reformed, either by Congress or by the federal administration.

Reviews

Repay As You Earn provides a sound review of recent federal efforts to ease repayment burden for students choosing a public service careers. It also provides a case study documenting the reason why a low percentage of law school graduates has not chosen this alterative repayment scheme....The book as a whole provides a credible analysis of a recent policy change, along with recommendations that merit consideration. The argument that better information should be provided should be heeded by the US Department of Education. Not only does the fact that this repayment option is underutilized by those who could benefit from using it is prime facie case for improving the quality of information, but this book provides compelling research evidence to support this case....Repay as you Earn should be good reading for students interested in higher education policy. It should also be helpful to financial aid administrators who would like to learn more about the income contingent repayment option.-The Journal of Higher Education
"Repay As You Earn provides a sound review of recent federal efforts to ease repayment burden for students choosing a public service careers. It also provides a case study documenting the reason why a low percentage of law school graduates has not chosen this alterative repayment scheme....The book as a whole provides a credible analysis of a recent policy change, along with recommendations that merit consideration. The argument that better information should be provided should be heeded by the US Department of Education. Not only does the fact that this repayment option is underutilized by those who could benefit from using it is prime facie case for improving the quality of information, but this book provides compelling research evidence to support this case....Repay as you Earn should be good reading for students interested in higher education policy. It should also be helpful to financial aid administrators who would like to learn more about the income contingent repayment option."-The Journal of Higher Education

Author Bio

RICHARD W. ROUSSEAU, S.J. is a member of the Society of Jesus. He has been chair of the Theology Department of Boston College, Assistant Director of Faith Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, Dean of the Weston Jesuit Theological Center, Professor and Chair of Theology at the University of Scranton, and is presently the Director of the University of Scranton Press.