Debt Decisions: The Effects of Paying for College in the United States with Student Loans

Abstract

Student loans have increasingly become a burden on individuals. This qualitative analysis explores how structural inequities and financial literacy gaps influence U.S. student loan borrowers’ decisions to finance postsecondary education. The study highlights racial and economic disparities examining participants’ reflections on debt aversion and systemic barriers to equitable access. We asked why participants took out Federal student loans, asked about their decision processes when taking on debt, whether participants took any action to reduce accumulated debt, and if they’d made any discoveries about their decisions to take on student loan debt. After coding and a thematic analysis, five themes and five subthemes emerged. Respondents saw loans as their only option to afford college, using the funds not just for tuition but for living expenses. Student loan debt has significantly impacted their life choices forcing some to delay major milestones like marriage and family, buying a house, and saving for retirement. A discussion including implications for policy, research, and practice as well as future directions is provided.

Received: 29 June 2024 | Revised: 5 February 2025 | Accepted: 7 April 2025

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support this work are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Author Contribution Statement

Kim E. Bullington: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration. David J. Thomas: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Minghui Hou: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. William L. Nuckols: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Dennis E. Gregory: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Joshua L. Howell: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft. Kaycee L. Bills: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft. Amy-Leah Joaquim: Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.