Student Loan Debt Burden in the Public Health Workforce.
Objectives. To characterize the national landscape of student loan debt for state and local public health staff and consider the potential roles of loan forgiveness and repayment in workforce development. Methods. This study analyzed data from the nationally representative 2024 Public Health Workfor...
| Published in: | American Journal of Public Health Vol. 116; no. 4; pp. 485 - 492 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Public Health Association
Apr2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192227048&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192227048 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00900036 APH jtl: American Journal of Public Health issn: 00900036 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 116 iid: 4 pid: 44 pub: American Public Health Association artinfo: ui: 192227048 10.2105/AJPH.2025.308290 ppf: 485 ppct: 7 formats: tig: atl: Student Loan Debt Burden in the Public Health Workforce. aug: au: Leider, Jonathon P. Robins, Moriah McDaniel, Nicole Hare Bork, Rachel Doyle, Hunter Castrucci, Brian C. affil: Center for Public Health Systems, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis. de Beaumont Foundation, Bethesda, MD. su: United States Cross-sectional method Debt Sex distribution Age distribution Academic achievement Public health Labor supply Psychosocial factors Medical personnel -- United States Forgiveness Scholarships Research funding Descriptive statistics Eligibility (Social aspects) Inferential statistics Data analysis software Regression analysis sug: subj: Cross-sectional method Debt Sex distribution Age distribution Academic achievement Public health Labor supply Psychosocial factors United States Temporary Help Services Health and Welfare Funds Grantmaking Foundations Medical personnel -- United States Forgiveness Scholarships Research funding Descriptive statistics Eligibility (Social aspects) Inferential statistics Data analysis software Regression analysis ab: Objectives. To characterize the national landscape of student loan debt for state and local public health staff and consider the potential roles of loan forgiveness and repayment in workforce development. Methods. This study analyzed data from the nationally representative 2024 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, which had 57 000 respondents in the United States. We calculated descriptive statistics and performed an interval regression to assess correlates of student loan balance. Results. More than 40% of the workforce has a student loan balance: $48 000 on average, among those with any debt. Differences are observed by age, race/ethnicity, and level of academic degree. Conclusions. As in other fields, governmental public health is experiencing high rates of turnover while having difficulty with recruitment. Lack of competitive pay and benefits makes it difficult to find and retain staff who may have a public service inclination but also have bills to pay. High on that list of bills, for many, are student loans. Public Health Implications. Loan forgiveness and repayment represent important policy tools to address the ongoing workforce shortage and may be adversely affected by recent federal legislation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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