A Review of Empirical Studies on Student Loan : Focusing on debt aversion and the hardship of repayment

Student loan is one of the ways a government gives students an opportunity to study in higher education. But because student loan users have to repay after they graduate, some prospective students in higher education deter using student loans. As empirical studies in foreign countries shows, student loaus deter prospective students from app lying to higher education or deprives students of opp ortunity to study in higher education. And parts of graduates taking out student loans may struggle to repay them or default on loan repayment. While many students in Japan take out JASSO’s student loan, few studies focus on these aspects of student loan. In order to confirm the importance of these studies in Japan, I review empirical studies focusing on these problems, loan aversion and hardship of loan repayment. In conclusion, I propose directions of future studies on student loan in Japan