Do attitudes matter? attitudes towards debt and graduate student loan debt

2015-04-23This dissertation contributes to a small but growing body of research on graduate student loan debt. We designed a survey to measure whether debt attitudes were related to the amounts master’s students at a large, urban, research university borrowed to finance a year of graduate study. Overall, we found that debt attitudes are related to the amounts borrowed by the respondents in our study. Our theoretical framework of rational choice, human capital, and behavioral economic theories revealed that respondents’ borrowing decisions are influenced by considerations of cost‐benefit analyses, long‐term returns on investment, and irrational aversions to debt. The implications of this research are that that institutional revenue streams need to rely less upon master’s students deficit financing their degree programs, financial aid and admissions professionals should proactively outreach to prospective borrowers, and that greater transparency is needed on the topic of graduate student borrowing and career outcomes