Team > Frederick Wherry

Frederick Wherry is the Townsend Martin, Class of 1917 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, the 2021 president-elect of the Eastern Sociological Society, and is also the Director of the Dignity and Debt Network, a partnership between the Social Science Research Council and Princeton.

​

Alongside Prof. Charlie Eaton, Prof. Laura Hamilton, and Prof. Adam Golstein, Prof. Wherry is engaging in several distinct projects using SLLI’s proprietary historical FFELP loan data, including examining the role of for-profit school ownership structures in borrower outcomes and studying the effectiveness of state solutions to predatory for-profit institutions, such as state grant eligibility, consumer disclosures, recruitment incentive bans, and enforcement actions. Moreover, these professors are using SLLI’s datasets to explore the role of the secondary student loan refinance market in exacerbating racial and social class inequalities. As for-profit institutions continue to saddle borrowers with tens of thousands of dollars in loans that they will struggle to repay, this research will reveal the most effective policy interventions that state and federal policymakers and regulators can use to increase oversight and accountability of these companies.