The Wrong Lessons: Student Loan Debt, Policy Learning, and Democratic Engagement

• In Event: Policy Feedback and Public Opinion

Abstract

Student loan debt is now at record levels in the United States – some 1.3 trillion dollars held by 44 million Americans (Friedman 2017). The negative long-term psychological and financial effects for many of these borrowers are well documented (Goldrick-Rab 2016). This paper turns to the individual-level political effects of student loan debt. We root ourselves in the policy learning literature (Schneider and Ingram 1993; Soss 1999; Mettler 2002; Mettler and Soss 2004) hypothesizing that individuals associate their student loan debt with government and, thus, those with higher levels of student loan debt will exhibit lower levels of political participation and political efficacy. While the actual relationship between the federal government and student loan debt is complicated, we nonetheless hypothesize that the policy design of federal loan application and administration has a lasting negative association with government over the lifecourse (Soss and Schram 2007). In order to test these hypotheses, we utilize a nationally representative survey instrument where we included questions on debt levels, political efficacy, and political participation as well as the expected controls. In so doing, we are able to make the original combination of unpacking potential political “spillover” effects of student loan debt for democratic engagement.

Authors

• Travis Johnston, University of Massachusetts, Boston

• Erin E. O'Brien, University of Massachusetts, Boston