Do Loans Really Expand Opportunities for Community College Students?

Abstract

In order to understand whether loans actually expand opportunities among community college students, it is important to understand who is borrowing and who is not. A binary logistic regression was used to determine which financially needy students are likely to borrow from federal loan programs. The current study found that the following types of students are less likely to borrow: first generation college students; females; students considered financially dependent upon their parents; and students who are Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or American Indian. Policy makers need to be mindful of this as they set funding levels for state and federal financial aid programs and not assume that students will use federal student loan programs to offset reductions in other types of financial aid.