Financial self-efficacy is associated with positive financial behaviors. This study investigated factors associated with financial self-efficacy among student loan borrowers based on original data collected through an online national survey of student loan borrowers between age 25 and 75. Results revealed that perceived student loan literacy prior to accruing higher education debt was significantly associated with current financial self-efficacy, while general financial literacy during repayment did not appear to be correlated with financial self-efficacy. This study draws on social cognitive theory to suggest that student loan literacy prior to accruing debt may act as a mastery experience, improving financial self-efficacy when the repayment period arrives. Given the increasing prevalence of student loans across all generations, this study underscores the need for early education and mentoring from financial professionals about student loan borrowing.

As college costs rise in the United States, many parents are forced to make difficult decisions about how to pay for their children’s higher education. Stress and conflict accompany financial issues and play a role in the financial picture for many families. Using Hill’s (Hill, Social casework 39:139–150, 1958) ABC-X model of family stress as a framework, this study describes results of a national survey of parents contributing to student loan payments for their child’s education and explores how this experience may play a role in familial conflict. Findings suggest marked gender differences in the relationship between contribution reason and the experience of conflict. Results also carry implications for financial professionals, suggesting a need for family-focused and gender-conscious financial education both before and during the student loan repayment process.

With student loan borrowing becoming an increasingly common experience in U.S. households, it is crucial to understand the interpersonal manifestation of education debt within family systems. This study sought to understand how accruing and repaying student loan debt for one’s own higher education relates to family dynamics and communication within families. Leveraging Family Communication Patterns Theory, this study asked: How do student loan borrowers describe loan-related family communication patterns prior to loan accrual and during the repayment period? Utilizing qualitative and quantitative data collected through a concurrent nested mixed methods study design, findings from this study profile family communication typologies leading up to, and during, student loan repayment. Study findings suggest that the ways in which families communicate about student loans prior to loan accrual and during repayment (a) relate to family financial socialization processes and (b) play at least a partial role in how they experience student loans as part of their overall family dynamics. This study proposes a model of loan-related family communication dynamics and offers implications for future scholarship and practice.

Saving for retirement and the ability to provide care for a loved one can be dramatically affected by student loan debt. Currently, approximately 44 million people of all ages in the United States carry the weight of over 1.4 trillion dollars of student loan debt. Student loan borrowers of all ages may experience lower financial preparedness for retirement as well as decreased ability to provide care for family members, including aging parents. While older adults hold a relatively small proportion of student loans, they are the fastest growing subset of student loan borrowers and have disproportionately high rates of student loan defaults. As a result of their defaults, the Social Security retirement benefits of Americans ages 65 and older experienced a 500% increase in offsets over the last decade. This presentation will spotlight an MIT AgeLab mixed methods study about how student loan borrowers between the ages of 51 and 75 experience student loans within family systems and perceive and prioritize longevity planning in light of their student loans. Data collected for this study include focus groups and a large national survey. Preliminary findings suggest that for older borrowers, student loans are generally one of several financial constraints that can inform spending and saving decisions. For most, student loan payments are regarded as stunting overall retirement savings while the minority regard the two separately. Older borrowers also tend to have increased financial and familial responsibilities, including caring for aging parents, that compete for borrowers’ limited financial and temporal resources.

During the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and its variants, older adults remain an age group particularly at-risk for poorer health outcomes, not only related to infection with COVID-19, but also due to disruptions in access to preventive health services, including routine vaccination. In the U.S., older adults have generally had high uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines, but differences persist regionally and between older adults from minority racial backgrounds. The purpose of the following study was to better understand how groups of Black and white-identifying adults ages 65+ described the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their preventive health behavior and healthcare use, including what contributed to their decision to receive or not receive a primary COVID-19 vaccination series. Seventy-five participants were purposively sampled and stratified into virtual focus groups based on their age, racial identity, vaccination status, and relationship to a local community. Findings leverage data from a pre-group questionnaire and focus groups conducted in November 2021. Analyses revealed differences among sub-groups about how the pandemic has impacted their relationship to their local community. Participants described the extent of the pandemic’s disruption to their healthcare access, including modifications to in-person care, use of telehealth, and engagement in new health behaviors. Decision-making related to the COVID-19 vaccine differed among the vaccinated and unvaccinated and white and Black-identifying groups, including factors related to interpersonal and systemic trust, independent research, and bodily autonomy. Implications of this research for public health and practitioners working with older adults will be discussed.