Ford School Professor Susan Dynarski's research on student loan default rates was cited by Representative Tom Petri while Secretary Duncan was testifying to the House Education and the Workforce Committee on Department of Education goals for 2014.
Arguing for increased transparency in student loans, Representative Petri used Professor Dynarski's work to illustrate that default rates for small student loans is an increasingly problematic trend. "We have a repayment crisis," he said, as opposed to the commonly cited "debt crisis." You can watch the hearing on the Education and the Workforce Committee website.
A nationally recognized leader in education policy, Susan Dynarski is a professor of public policy, education, and economics at the University of Michigan. She co-directs the Education Policy Initiative at the Ford School, and holds faculty research associate appointments with the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment. She is also a nonresident senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.
Dynarski has testified on education and tax policy on numerous occasions, including to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and the President's Commission on Tax Reform.
Sue Dynarski's research discussed in congressional hearing with Education Secretary Arne Duncan
May 1, 2014