On top of these financial implications, there are also the looming mental and psychological effects that debt has on students’ mental health. Many students experience profound stress, anxiety and feelings related to shame when thinking about their financial situations related to school. In a 2021 survey, one in 14 student borrowers said they experienced suicidal ideation because of taxing debt situations.

When Cautney Nelson, 23, first created her nonprofit Millennial Science in December 2018, she wanted to put a fun twist on making research articles more digestible for readers. Nelson soon switched gears to bringing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs to children in low-income areas.

The working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research identified Stony Brook as the country’s third-best school for helping students move from the bottom quintile of the U.S. income distribution to the top.