The burden of student loan debt: differences in socioeconomic background and attitudes towards higher education

Figures & data

Figure 1. Percentage of students receiving JASSO student loans by type of HE institution.

Sources: Japan Scholarship Foundation annual report and JASSO annual report.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (N = 377).

	Mean or proportion	Standard deviation	Minimum	Maximum
Student loan debt (million yen)	1.189	1.712	0	10.25
Male (0 = female, 1 = male)	0.459		0	1
Parental education
Low	0.313		0	1
Intermediate	0.361		0	1
High	0.326		0	1
Household income
Low (0–6 million yen)	0.316		0	1
Medium (6–8.5 million yen)	0.324		0	1
High (8.5 million yen or more)	0.361		0	1
Household savings
Low (0–1.5 million yen)	0.294		0	1
Medium (1.5–6 million yen)	0.382		0	1
High (6 million yen or more)	0.324		0	1
Number of siblings	1.334	0.707	0	4
Higher education institution
Specialised training college	0.199		0	1
Junior college	0.074		0	1
Private university	0.541		0	1
National or public university	0.186		0	1
Students’ attitudes towards HE
High economic burden	2.997	0.980	0	4
High social reputation	2.719	0.962	0	4
Getting a preferred occupation	2.719	1.077	0	4
Difficult to graduate	1.899	1.050	0	4
Mothers’ attitudes towards HE
High economic burden	3.135	0.997	0	4
High social reputation	2.523	0.881	0	4
Getting a preferred occupation	2.247	0.970	0	4
Difficult to graduate	1.324	0.903	0	4
Students’ preferred job attributes
Well paying	2.236	0.644	0	3
Marketable skills	2.207	0.733	0	3
Specific skills and knowledge	1.950	0.866	0	3
Mothers’ preferred job attributes
Well paying	1.976	0.571	0	3
Marketable skills	2.390	0.652	0	3
Specific skills and knowledge	2.212	0.701	0	3

Table 2. Descriptive statistics on student loans by the type of HE institution.

	Type of HE institution
	Specialised training colleges	Junior colleges	Private universities	National or public universities	Total
All respondents (n = 377)
Borrowed (%)	40.0%	32.1%	47.1%	45.7%	44.3%
Mean	0.810	0.469	1.441	1.150	1.189
SD	1.333	0.900	1.891	1.637	1.712
Median	0	0	0	0	0
Borrowers (n = 167)
Mean	2.025	1.458	3.063	2.516	2.685
SD	1.411	1.053	1.619	1.555	1.613
Median	1.75	1.25	2.75	2.25	2.25

Note: In million yen.

Table 3. Tobit models regarding student loan debt.

	Model 1		Model 2
	Estimate	SE	Estimate	SE
Intercept	0.492	0.629	1.503*	0.610
Male (ref. female)	−0.388	0.348	−0.849*	0.341
Parental education (ref. low)
Intermediate	0.659	0.423	0.462	0.399
High	0.336	0.464	−0.021	0.441
Household income (ref. low)
Medium	−0.429	0.425	−0.590	0.402
High	−1.834***	0.483	−1.899***	0.459
Household savings (ref. low)
Medium	−0.513	0.406	−0.603	0.384
High	−2.753***	0.520	−2.841***	0.491
Number of siblings	0.652**	0.245	0.753**	0.233
Higher education institution (ref. private university)
Specialised training college			−1.873***	0.441
Junior college			−3.018***	0.727
National or public university			−0.243	0.446
Log-likelihood	−522.324		−507.354

Note: n = 377 All models include eight categories of residential regions in 2012.

*p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.

Figure 2. Effects of each independent variable: average marginal effects and 95% confidence intervals.

Note: Reference categories in some variables are changed from Table 3.

Figure 3. Effects of attitudes towards HE: average marginal effects and 95% confidence intervals.

Note: Each variable was standardised with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one.

Figure 4. Effects of preferred job attributes: average marginal effects and 95% confidence intervals.

Note: Each variable was standardised with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one.