This study explores the prospect of the application of the basic principles of ICL into many other potential areas of social and economic policy. Using case studies it evaluates previously implemented ICL schemes where interest rate subsidies are usually the norm, and questions the merits of this approach.

This study explores the prospect of the application of the basic principles of ICL into many other potential areas of social and economic policy. Using case studies it evaluates previously implemented ICL schemes where interest rate subsidies are usually the norm, and questions the merits of this approach.

As higher education rates increase throughout the westernised world, student support is recognised as crucial in many countries. This new book by Bruce Chapman analyses income contingent loans and particularly their use in supporting students.

The underlying theory of cost-sharing as well as the description of its worldwide reach were developed from 1986 through 2006 mainly by the works of Johnstone and his Ford Foundation financed International Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The principal papers from this project are reproduced in this volume. They examine the worldwide shift in the burden of higher education costs from governments and taxpayers to parents and students, and the policies of grants, loans and other governmental interventions designed to maintain higher educational accessibility in the face of this shift.

This article uses the case of paying for a college education to study broad issues of equity, both between families and between generations. As a normative matter, I argue that we should subsidize the education of those who are disadvantaged, but that is because a college education generally 'pays off,' society as a whole should not subsidize most students. Rather, the government can serve the valuable function of simply ensuring that students have access to sufficient loans to finance their education. Congress recently enacted President Clinton's proposal to convert the federal role from a guarantor of student loans to a direct lender (for a phased-in portion of student loans). Direct lending will allow a novel repayment option: the graduate can elect to repay the government out of a modest percentage of her future income.Much of the article explores the difficulties of trying to determine an individual's financial resources, so that the government can best target its subsidies. When do we view the child separately from his family? When is it proper to look to a student's lifetime rather than current resources? Using the public finance literature, I examine the limitations of our governmental redistributive tools.Happily, most of the conceptual difficulties melt away in the face of an income-contingent repayment mechanism, which basically matches payments of principal and interest to the profits from an education. For most graduates, a percentage-of-income cap is the only real insurance they need against doing poorly in the job market. However, because President Clinton's proposal perpetuated existing federal subsidies in the guaranteed student loan program, Congress missed the opportunity to make the program fairer by applying analyses based on intergenerational equity and lifetime income.

The papers included in this volume represent the most current research and knowledge available about student loans and repayment. It serves as a valuable reference for researchers and policymakers who seek a deeper understanding of how, why, and which students borrow for their postsecondary education; how this borrowing may affect later decisions; and what measures can help borrowers repay their loans successfully.