Attitudes Toward Borrowing and Participation in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

High school seniors who answered that they would choose to borrow, when asked what they would do if college costs were $1,500 more than they, their family, and a scholarship could provide, were significantly more likely to attend college in the next four years than were students who answered that they would choose other options (delaying college entrance, attending a less expensive college, or getting a job). This held true even after controlling for other variables such as educational aspirations, tested achievement, influence from others, and socioeconomic status. This finding supports the contention that students who are reluctant to borrow are less likely to enroll in postsecondary education. Among the students who did enroll in college, willingness to borrow was significantly associated with attendance at a four‐year college rather than a two‐year college and with full‐time rather than part‐time attendance. This may mean that recent changes in financial aid packaging, with fewer grants and more loans, have had an effect not only on college enrollments but also on the type of college that students attend and on the proportion of students enrolling in college on a part‐time basis. The results also suggest that, all else being equal, students who are knowledgeable about financial aid sources may be more likely to enroll in college than are students with less knowledge of these sources.

College Knowledge of 9th and 11th Grade Students: Variation by School and State Context

“…Students with less information about cost and aid are also less likely to be willing to take out loans to pay for college, or have parents that save for college (Ekstrom, 1991;Flint, 1997). The research does not establish causality though, and thus does not establish whether having knowledge causes a student to take steps to enroll in college (Perna, 2005).…”

Financial Literacy Challenges: The Case of Filipino Public-School Teachers

“…That leads them to borrow cash from their friends. Some teachers even apply for parttime work to earn extra money (Ekstrom, 2014). However, the retirees say the opposite.…”

Understanding High School Students’ Willingness to Borrow to Pay College Prices

“…These descriptive data are particularly problematic given that willingness to borrow is positively related to college enrollment (Callender & Jackson, 2005;Ekstrom, 1991). Using data from the High School and Beyond longitudinal survey of 1980 high school sophomores and seniors, Ekstrom found that students who reported that they would be willing to borrow to pay $1,500 in college prices that could not be covered by family or other sources of financial aid were more likely than other students to enroll in college within four years of graduating from high school, enroll in a four-year than a two-year institution, and enroll full-time than part-time even after controlling for background characteristics, educational aspirations, academic achievement, encouragement from significant others, and knowledge of college costs and financial aid.…”