With student loan debt piling up for millennials, there’s been mounting concern of a loan crisis. But Constantine Yannelis, a former fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, makes the case that many of those loans are a good investment.

Along with Adam Looney from the U.S. Treasury, Yannelis writes in this month’s SIEPR Policy Brief that the vast majority of borrowers with high debt are in a good position to pay it off.  And the research done by the pair holds a few lessons for policymakers considering loan repayment programs.