As regular readers of this blog know, I am keenly interested in exploring the cost-effectiveness of policies affecting the world of education. This week, the New America Foundation released a report detailing changes made by Congress and the Obama Administration to income-based repayment. Income-based repayment allows people to pay back their student loans by paying a fixed percentage of their income over a long period of time; this differs from traditional loan payments in the sense that loan payments can do down if income is low and up if income is high.
The recent actions of the good folks in Washington resulted in a system that substantially reduces the payments for people who take on a lot of debt (generally those who attend very expensive colleges or get professional degrees). Giving heavy subsidies to high-income, well-educated people isn’t the most cost-effective strategy and encourages the cost of higher education to rise even higher.
I combined with Sara Goldrick-Rab, my friendly neighborhood dissertation chair and someone who occupies a distinctly different political space from me, to write a piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education on how to improve income-based repayment. Take a read and let me know what you think. The New America people are certainly interested in considering changes to their proposal, and so am I.
As an aside, it always feels nice to get some publicity for your thoughts, especially while navigating the job market. Stay tuned for my next endeavor…coming soon!
Robert Kelchen 
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