College Student Persistence to Degree: The Burden of Debt

Data collected from two major universities (one in the Midwest and one in the Southeast) in the United States were used to analyze student persistence behavior and perceptions of debt. Results from four separate logistic regression analyses suggested that financial factors play a significant role in student persistence behavior as well as in student perceptions of debt. Controlling for demographic characteristics, as well as a number of key student factors, student loan debt, credit card use behavior, and the presence of other debts, had a significant impact on whether students reported ever reducing credit hours for financial reasons, whether students ever dropped out for financial reasons, and the extent to which students reported difficulty persisting due to the psychological burden of student loan debt and consumer debt. Findings suggest that some persistence issues may be alleviated through targeted education programs.