C.D. Marlow
1:24Public hostility and a promise in doubt
What you’ll hear
C.D. connects policy uncertainty and public hostility toward borrowers with frustration and diminished trust in commitments made to public-service workers.
Lives behind the findings
The stories within the patterns
Fifteen analytic themes were developed across 2,933 interview response units using Guided AI Thematic Analysis (GAITA). Financial Strain is shown first; select any other theme to display its focused story, four participant quotations, connected subthemes, survey findings, and related audio below the grid.
Interactive coding structure
Explore 15 analytic themes
Select any theme to display its public-facing story, four borrower quotations, connected subthemes, related survey outcomes, and available audio below the theme grid.
Showing 15 of 15 analytic themes
How to interpret the counts: Excerpt totals describe coding density within the interview corpus, and borrower reach shows how many of the 67 participants had the theme present. Neither measure estimates prevalence in the broader borrower population.
Selected public-facing story · Analytic theme 9 of 15
Trust and betrayal
Borrowers describe a moral injury: they followed the rules and organized their lives around public promises while institutions retained the power to change the deal.
410coded excerpts67/67borrowers
Borrower voices
Four perspectives from the interviews
“We signed promissory notes at the beginning, and y’all can just do what y’all want.”
“I don’t have trust that there will be a system for my daughter to borrow money in a fair way. I don’t trust that the money is being used for access anymore.”
“I had an agreement with the government written into law before I started college. I’ve made all these life plans, and now my contract is being changed.”
“My trust is very low. I don’t trust the U.S. Department of Education right now. I think they’re doing more harm than anything.”
Participant names are pseudonyms. Quotations are lightly edited to remove verbal fillers, false starts, and repetition, and may be shortened for clarity without changing meaning.
Most frequent connected subthemes
- Partisan accountability96
- Loss of faith53
- Contractual moral language44
- Promise-breaking11
Continue exploring
These are conceptual connections across the study, not respondent-level statistical linkages.
Hear their stories
Three voices connected to Trust and betrayal
These privacy-reviewed selections connect to the complete Borrower Voices Library. A recording may connect to more than one analytic theme.
Harriet Tubman
1:12When uncertainty eroded hope
What you’ll hear
Harriet explains how uncertainty around PSLF undermined trust in government promises and raised questions about a future in public service.
Elaine Nelson
0:28The terms felt like a federal promise
What you’ll hear
Elaine describes PSLF terms as a promise and explains how changing policies undermined life plans built around that agreement.