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Student Loan Repayment Plan Choice Pilot Survey

Last registered on February 10, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Student Loan Repayment Plan Choice Pilot Survey
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005302
Initial registration date
January 20, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 21, 2020, 1:54 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
February 10, 2020, 3:00 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Michigan State University

Primary Investigator

Name
Joshua Brownstein
Affiliation
Michigan State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Scott Imberman
PI Affiliation
Dissertation Advisor
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2020-01-13
End date
2020-02-21
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
student loan, student loan repayment, college
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to explore the effect that the design of income based repayment plans have on student loan repayment plan choice. To do this I field a survey to undergraduate students. In the survey students are then asked to choose between a 10 year repayment plan and an income based repayment plan. The specific design of the income based repayment plan is randomized for each respondent. After the respondents choose a plan they are then asked for information that might affect their choice including information on their: expectations, financial aid, demographics, risk aversion, and educational information.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Brownstein, Joshua and Scott Imberman. 2020. "Student Loan Repayment Plan Choice Pilot Survey." AEA RCT Registry. February 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5302-1.2
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2020-01-13
Intervention End Date
2020-02-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The proportion of respondents who choose the income based repayment plan over the 10 year repayment plan.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Respondents are ask to choose between an 10 year repayment plan and an income based repayment plan. The income based plan sets payments as a percentage of yearly income above an amount of exempt income. It also specifies that loans will be forgiven after a certain number of years. The following aspects of the questions are randomized for each respondent: the order in which the repayment plans are shown, the amount of income that is exempt from payment calculations in the income based plan, the percentage of non-exempt income that determines payment in the income based plan, and the number of years until loan forgiveness in the income based plan. Each aspect has 2 different variations for a total of 16 different treatments.
Experimental Design Details
The amount of exempt income for the income based place is randomized between $20,000 and $30,000.
The percentage of non-exempt income that determines payment for the income based place is randomized between 5% and 10%.
The number of years until loan forgiveness in the income based repayment plan is randomized between 15 years and 20 years
Randomization Method
Randomization is done using Qualtrics' built-in randomizer which is found under survey flow. The box to evenly present elements is checked.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is done at the level of the individual survey respondent.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
There are no clusters in this survey.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The plan is have 200 survey respondents. The survey will close after 200 responses have been recorded. The survey closed with 170 survey responses.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
With 200 respondents and 16 treatments (including randomizing the order of the repayment) each treatment will have either 12 or 13 respondents. Because the survey is primarily focused on how the parameters of the income based repayment plan effects plan choice, each of the 8 combinations of parameters for the income based plans should be seen by 25 respondents.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Human Research Protection Program Office of Regulatory Affairs Michigan State University
IRB Approval Date
2019-12-19
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00003694
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
January 16, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
169 survey responses from college students. The treatment was randomized at the survey respondent level.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
169 survey responses from college students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Payments equal to 10% of income above $20,000. Loan forgiveness after 20 years. 22 respondents. Payments equal to 5% of income above $20,000. Loan forgiveness after 20 years. 22 respondents. Payments equal to 10% of income above $30,000. Loan forgiveness after 20 years. 20 respondents. Payments equal to 5% of income above $30,000. Loan forgiveness after 20 years. 20 respondents. Payments equal to 10% of income above $20,000. Loan forgiveness after 15 years. 21 respondents. Payments equal to 5% of income above $20,000. Loan forgiveness after 15 years. 23 respondents. Payments equal to 10% of income above $30,000. Loan forgiveness after 15 years. 21 respondents. Payments equal to 5% of income above $30,000. Loan forgiveness after 15 years. 20 respondents.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes
Public Data URL
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWmhJlyhUnWwIStaRZi1o6LZpKvXAcbD/view?usp=sharing

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oPbCDAOaJI9iTlwncb6jgso6_A_hRqLg/view?usp=drive_link
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Income-based student loan repayment provides borrowers with insurance against high repayment obligations relative to their income. Borrowers on income-based repayment rarely default on their loans and there is research which suggests that this is casual. Despite this benefit most students choose to stay on the default 10-year repayment plan. This study investigates whether the specific numerical parameters of the U.S. Federal Government’s income-based repayment plans contribute to the low take up of income-based repayment. I do this by piloting a survey experiment to undergraduate students at Michigan State University. The survey provides evidence that students are more or less likely to choose an income-based repayment plan over the standard repayment plan depending on the specific value of the parameters of the income-based repayment plan.
Citation
Brownstein, Joshua. 2021. "A Pilot Survey on Student Loan Repayment Plan Choice." Unpublished.
URL
https://joshuabrownstein.github.io/website/Pilot_Survey_Student_Loan_Repayment.pdf

Reports & Other Materials