Elizabeth "Beth" Akers (born 1983) is an American economist known for her advocacy for reform of the federal student loan and financial aid system in the United States.
[1] From 2016 to 2021, Akers was a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research,[2] during which she coauthored Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt, published in 2016.
She has stated she is against of paycheck withholding as being the only option for a loan repayment, but acknowledges that that system would have clear benefits, with automatic payments eliminating "unnecessary defaults".
She stated, "The Idea that payroll withholding could be a substitute for our broken loan-servicing system is appealing..."[21] In 2019, under the American Enterprise Institute, Ackers published an analysis of student loans, finding a pattern of costs that continued through the decade's end.
Their constituents have often been critical of the president's efforts", said Beth Akers, senior fellow focused on higher education and student loans at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).