Team > Rajeev Darolia

Rajeev Darolia, PhD holds the Wendell H. Ford Professorship of Public Policy and is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Kentucky. He serves as Associate Director of Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, Associate Director of the UK Center for Poverty Research, and Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

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​Alongside Prof. ​Lesley Turner, Prof. Darolia is using SLLI’s datasets in conjunction with other data to explore the long-term impact of income-driven repayment (IDR) on borrowers’ financial lives. Their research explored the long-term benefits that this critical protection provides borrowers across their financial lives and broader decision making, including the impact of IDR on borrowers’ future earnings, educational investments and household formation. To date, policymakers have lacked the insight needed to craft fulsome solutions to address the domino effect of student debt. This research helps to complete the puzzle, revealing if and how IDR can be used to mitigate the longer-term ramifications of student debt.