While co-director of the Education Policy Initiative, Susan Dynarski convened an international comparative conference to provide policymakers, analysts and press with cross-national perspectives on student debt and repayment. The goal was to enrich the US conversation around student loans with perspectives on how other countries structure aid, borrowing and repayment.
The countries represented have a wide range of loan and financial aid models. International experts included Bruce Chapman, the architect of the Australian student loan program; Nicholas Barr, one of the primary architects of England's 2006 student loan reforms; Lorraine Dearden, research fellow at the London-based Institute for Fiscal Studies; Christina Forsberg, director general at CSN, the Swedish Board for Study Support; and Achim Meyer auf der Heyde, secretary-general of Germany's National Association for Student Affairs.
The international session was followed by a discussion with US-based experts — Matthew Chingos (Urban Institute), Rohit Chopra (former student loan ombudsman, US Department of Education), Jason Delisle (New America Foundation), Susan Dynarski, and Kevin James (Jain Family Institute) — exploring how international insights could be applied to the US setting.
Conference attendees spanned policymakers, legislative staff, education researchers, academics, and press.
Related Publications
Selected papers, reports, and briefs distributed to conference participants, organized by country.
Australia
Bruce Chapman, Tim Higgins, and Joseph E. Stiglitz · In Income Contingent Loans: Theory, Practice and Prospects, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
Bruce Chapman · Solutions, Vol. 4(5), 2013
Bruce Chapman and Yael Shavit · Inside Higher Ed, June 8, 2010
Bruce Chapman · Harvard College Economics Review, Winter 2008
England
Nicholas Barr · London School of Economics, April 2015
Jack Britton, Claire Crawford, and Lorraine Dearden · IFS Briefing Note 174, 2015
Nicholas Barr · London School of Economics, 2014
Johnston and Barr · Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2013
Nicholas Barr · Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 46, No. 5, 2012
Nicholas Barr · CESifo DICE Report, February 2012
Haroon Chowdry, Lorraine Dearden, Alissa Goodman, and Wenchao Jin · Fiscal Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2012
Lorraine Dearden, E. Fitzsimons, A. Goodman, and G. Kaplan · Economic Journal 118(526), 2008
Nicholas Barr · The Conversation, October 23, 2015
Nicholas Barr · MoneySavingExpert Guest Comment, July 29, 2011
Nicholas Barr · The Independent, March 25, 2010
Germany
Achim Meyer auf der Heyde · Deutsches Studentwerk, June 2016
Sweden
Christina Forsberg · CSN Abstract, June 2016
Christina Forsberg · CSN Abstract, June 2016
United States
Susan Dynarski · Milken Institute Review, May 2016
Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton · Education Policy Initiative Working Paper, 2016
Matthew Chingos · Brookings Evidence Speaks, 2016
Beth Akers and Matthew Chingos · Brookings, 2014
Susan Dynarski and Mark Wiederspan · Education Policy Initiative Policy Brief, 2015
EdCentr.AL · New America Foundation, Young Invincibles, and NASFAA, October 2015
Kevin James · National Affairs, Issue 25, Fall 2015
Kevin James and Andrew Kelly · American Enterprise Institute, November 2015
Jason Delisle · Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2014
Susan Dynarski and Daniel Kreisman · Brookings Hamilton Project, 2013
Jason Delisle and Alex Holt · New America Foundation, October 2012
Susan Dynarski · Brookings Evidence Speaks, January 2016
Susan Dynarski · New York Times, August 31, 2015
Susan Dynarski · Brookings Evidence Speaks, April 2016