Education

CBO uses several measures of student loan repayment to describe borrowers’ outcomes from 2009 to 2019, before payments were suspended during the pandemic.

CBO issues a volume that contains short descriptions of 59 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by less than $300 billion over the next 10 years.

CBO estimates that the cost of outstanding student loans to the federal government will increase by about $400 billion because of an executive action canceling some debt.

CBO responds to questions from Congressman Warren Davidson and other Members about CBO’s estimates of the costs of student loan programs and how they have changed since 2010.

Between 1995 and 2017, the balance of outstanding federal student loan debt increased from $187 billion to $1.4 trillion (in 2017 dollars). CBO examines factors that contributed to that growth, including changes to student loan policies and how they affected borrowing and repayment.

CBO examines how enrollment in income-driven plans has changed and how those plans will affect the federal budget. CBO projects the costs of two sets of options that would change the availability of such plans or change borrowers’ payments.

In 2017, the government financed roughly $100 billion in student loans and provided about $30 billion in grants and $30 billion in tax preferences. This report examines the impact of such aid and a number of approaches to changing it.

In 2016, students pursuing higher education received about $91 billion in financial support from federal spending programs and tax expenditures. This report examines the distribution of that assistance among households, by income group.

This blog post explains how CBO analyzes the economic effects of federal subsidies for education and job training. It provides information on the basis for CBO’s estimates and the research that informs them.