Debt and Democracy

Abstract

This introductory chapter makes the case for listening to student experiences to invigorate public dialogue about student loan debt. Evaluations of student loan schemes often set aside how students experience debt in favour of a more detached economic analysis of average loans, repayment times and graduate destinations. I argue for adopting a language of students as citizens in appraisals of student debt, as it encourages us to broaden the approaches and tools used to assess its consequences, and draws attention to the social and democratic value of university education. The chapter then provides an overview of the argument of the book, the New Zealand context, and the methods used for this study.