evidence: Spikes in borrowing from the federal government during or closely following recessions in the past three decades have played a key role in the country’s upward march in federal student loan debt.1 The economic crisis spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic may leave a different legacy, however. [...] People often enroll in school during economic downturns to build job skills at a time when employment prospects are weak.7 For example, between 2008 and 2011, the years during and following the 2007-09 recession, undergraduate enrollment grew from 14.5 million to 15.6 million students.8 The total number of undergraduate student loan borrowers taking out unsubsidized and subsidized federal Stafford loans grew from 6.5 million to 9.4 million, or by 46%, in those same years.9 [...] - Pew researchers identified three key factors that vary with economic downturns and may contribute to trends in student debt. These factors are not meant to be an exhaustive list of all factors that contribute to student borrowing levels.