Student Loan Debt and Higher Education Disruptions During COVID-19

We collected and analyzed a survey of 1,018 undergraduate students enrolled at a public regional university in Spring 2021, examining pandemic disruptions to education, living situations, and finances in the first year of the pandemic, and their relationship to loan presence and reports of taking out more loans as a result of the pandemic. Over half of students had student loans, and over one-third of them reported that they increased loan debt due to the pandemic. Results revealed pandemic-related academic and financial disruptions increased student debt for some. Students with loans were also more likely to have moved out of dormitories and in with parents during the pandemic. We develop a conceptual model (and we include a visual representation) to explain results and the expected impacts of future similar disruptions to higher education on student loan debt.