Dollars Rule Everything Around Me: College-Bound Students’ Views on Paying for College,

 The level of student loan debt has doubled in less than a decade and more than one in ten borrowers are struggling to make their student loan payments. With such stakes, it is important to know how prospective college students are planning to finance their college education. In April 2018, roughly 1,200 high school juniors and seniors who registered to take the ACT test responded to a short survey about their views on paying for college and knowledge about repayment options.

Key findings include:

Two-thirds of respondents were eligible for Pell Grants, averse to any college-based debt, or paying for their postsecondary education themselves. Other national estimates fail to account for all three of these traits, and thus undercount both the number of students struggling with financial aid decisions and the reasons why they struggle.

Students did not understand basic information about the student financial aid and repayment processes, which may limit their abilities to access aid  

Many students lack the most up-to-date and personalized debt-related information necessary to making college enrollment and student financial aid decisions. 

Complete report