To what extent do international boundaries impact on anxiety around debt amongst students? Do national attitudes about repaying loans mean those students from different countries treat their debt differently? What can University managers learn from student anxiety about debt and how can ethical approaches to helping students understand how their debt is managed be provided?
The report's lead author Dr Neil Harrison from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) said, "A university education is widely presented as an investment in the future with better employment prospects for graduates. It is also widely known that this investment carries with it a long-term commitment to debt. We wanted to establish if students across international boundaries have different attitudes and/or anxieties relating to this debt." Read more...

By Richard Read. It's textbook season again, the time of year students such as Stephanie Tierrablanca dread. Deep in the stacks of the Portland State University Bookstore, Tierrablanca, a senior from California, searches the web on her smart phone an environmental-studies book stocked by the shop. If an online competitor lists a lower price, the store will match the amount and deduct 10 percent. More...

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel. Michael Bayne has done everything you're supposed to do to avoid taking on too much debt for college. He lives off-campus to save money on housing. He's always working at least one job — sometimes two. And he enrolled at an in-state public school, Arizona State University.
But it's not nearly enough. The $2,500 in grants Bayne received this semester covered less than half of his tuition at ASU. A decade ago, the same amount of aid would have been enough to pay his entire bill. More...

By Katie Morley. Following reports in these pages about the risk of underestimating the full cost student loans, a number of students and their parents have tried to pay off their debts. And they have discovered the process to be far from straightforward. Read more...

By Aleksandra Sagan. In 2009, Jacqueline Koos and her husband graduated with about $52,000 in student loans. They borrowed another $11,000 soon after for a rushed car purchase. But through a mixture of perseverance and frugal living, the couple managed to erase their debt load in just five years. More...