Study Finds That Student Loans Are More Important for College Women Than Men

A new study by researchers at Ohio State University and Pacific Lutheran University has found that student loans may be more important for college women than for men. The results of the study showed that all students who took out college loans were more likely to persist and go on to earn their degrees. But the study found that at a certain level – which was $2,000 lower for men than women – debt had diminishing returns on whether or not the student would finish college.

Rachel E. Dwyer, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State and a co-author of the study, states, “At least early in their careers, women suffer more than men if they don’t have a college degree. Women will go deeper in debt to finance college because they need the degree more than men if they want to earn a good living. Men will drop out at lower levels of debt.”

Dr. Dwyer has taught at Ohio State since 2003. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, all from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The study, which appears in the February 2013 edition of the journal Gender & Society, may be accessed here.