Saving and borrowing to finance higher education has become an increasingly important element of the household balance sheet and a meaningful channel affecting educational attainment, labor market outcomes, consumption, and wealth accumulation. Decisions surrounding postsecondary attendance and student loan debt affect the financial resilience of families, educational institutions, and communities, and they influence credit markets and the broader economy.

Our Higher Education Finance Research Conference is an opportunity for the presentation and discussion of academic research on topics related to financial aid, student debt, and more under the umbrella of higher education finance. We encourage researchers to submit theoretical and empirical studies across a broad range of topics in higher education finance. Both causal analyses as well as careful descriptive papers leveraging unique data sources will be considered. We encourage the submission of research that will benefit from early feedback.

This conference is organized by the Philadelphia Fed’s Consumer Finance Institute. We are delighted to welcome Caroline Hoxby, the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a leading expert in the economics of higher education, to deliver the keynote address.

Conference Organizers

  • Tomás E. Monarrez, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Dubravka Ritter, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Program Committee

  • Jeffrey Denning, University of Texas at Austin
  • Igor Livshits, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Adam Looney, University of Utah
  • Tomás E. Monarrez, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Dubravka Ritter, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Lesley Turner, University of Chicago

Paper Submission Procedure

Interested authors should submit a PDF version of their paper via our submission portal. There is no submission fee. The deadline for submissions is Monday, April 27, 2026. 

Authors of accepted papers will be notified by mid-June. Limited funding will be available for travel expenses and accommodations for presenting authors and discussants.

For More Information

Please address any questions to phil.hef.conference@phil.frb.org.