论文标题
最小化联邦学生贷款的还款成本
Minimizing the Repayment Cost of Federal Student Loans
论文作者
论文摘要
联邦学生贷款是具有三个主要特殊特征的固定利率债务合同：（i）借款人可以使用以收入驱动的计划来使付款与他们的收入成正比，（（ii）经过数年的良好信誉，剩余的余额被宽恕，但征税为普通收入，而（iii）应计的利息很简单，即不资本化。对于非常小的贷款，成本最小化的还款策略决定了最高付款，直到全额还款为止，取决于收入驱动的计划和宽恕。对于非常大的贷款，收入驱动的计划允许的最低付款是最佳的。对于中间余额，最佳还款策略可能需要最低支付的初始阶段，以利用应计利息的非资本化，但是当本金被偿还时，最高付款始终先于最低付款。收入驱动的计划和简单的应计利益主要使借款人具有很大的余额。
Federal student loans are fixed-rate debt contracts with three main special features: (i) borrowers can use income-driven schemes to make payments proportional to their income above subsistence, (ii) after several years of good standing, the remaining balance is forgiven but taxed as ordinary income, and (iii) accrued interest is simple, i.e., not capitalized. For a very small loan, the cost-minimizing repayment strategy dictates maximum payments until full repayment, forgoing both income-driven schemes and forgiveness. For a very large loan, the minimal payments allowed by income-driven schemes are optimal. For intermediate balances, the optimal repayment strategy may entail an initial period of minimum payments to exploit the non-capitalization of accrued interest, but when the principal is being reimbursed maximal payments always precede minimum payments. Income-driven schemes and simple accrued interest mostly benefit borrowers with very large balances.
