Denied: Community College Students Lack Access to Affordable Loans

At least one million community college students lack access to federal loans, not because of the credit crunch, but because their schools don't participate in the federal loan programs. This pushes students who need to borrow to resort to risky private loans, payday loans, and credit cards, or to drop out or reduce their course load. Our brief also finds significant gaps in loan access between racial and ethnic groups.

Pew is no longer active in this line of work, but for more information, visit the Project on Student Debt Web site or visit the The Project on Student Debt on PewHealth.org.