Lower Ed

Last updated

Lower Ed
Author Tressie McMillan Cottom
Subject Higher education in the United States, sociology of education
Publisher The New Press
Publication date
2017
Pages228

Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy is a 2017 book about American for-profit colleges by sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom.

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In the United States, student loans are a form of financial aid intended to help students access higher education. In 2018, 70 percent of higher education graduates had used loans to cover some or all of their expenses. With notable exceptions, student loans must be repaid, in contrast to other forms of financial aid such as scholarships, which are not repaid, and grants, which rarely have to be repaid. Student loans may be discharged through bankruptcy, but this is difficult. Research shows that access to student loans increases credit-constrained students' degree completion, later-life earnings, and student loan repayment while having no impact on overall debt.

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