Judith Scott-Clayton

Judith Scott-Clayton is professor of Economics and Education in the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis (EPSA) at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also faculty research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and senior research scholar at the Community College Research Center (CCRC). Scott-Clayton teaches courses on the economics of education, labor economics, and causal inference, and her research lies at the intersection of labor economics and higher education, with a focus on financial aid, community colleges, and the outcomes of students after college, including labor market trajectories and patterns of student loan default. 

Scott-Clayton’s work crosses disciplinary boundaries and has been published in various economics, education, and policy journals, including the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance and Policy, and Economics of Education Review. Her work has been covered by national media including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, PBS, NPR, and CNN. She has written for the Brookings Institution's Evidence Speaks series The New York Times’ Economix and Upshot blogs. Scott-Clayton actively participates in higher-education policy discussions at the state and federal level, including testifying four times to the U.S. Senate as an expert on financial aid research and policy. Scott-Clayton received her PhD in public policy from Harvard University and her BA in sociology from Wellesley College.