In 2014, Susan Dynarski will serve as a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Economic Studies program. The Brookings Economic Studies program analyzes current and emerging economic policy issues facing the United States and aims to increase understanding of how the economy works and what can be done to make it work better. Throughout her appointment, she will be participating in the prestigious research institution's new Economic Studies working paper series.
Dynarski was also featured in a recent Ford School Policy Points video on her proposal to reform student loan repayment. She explains that the discourse around student debt does not match the numbers, as people are actually more likely to borrow and default on smaller loans. She argues that this points to a problem in the way we structure repayment, which should be the focus of reform.
Dynarski's proposal would involve spreading out loan repayment over 25 years that would allow for much smaller payments each year and also flex automatically with people's earnings. When explaining the rationale for this plan, she states:
"What I sought to do with a student loan proposal was to try to find some ways that we can alter loan policy that would be a win-win and that would make life better especially for people who are currently in repayment."