After Years of Troubles, Largest Student-Loan Servicers Get Stepped-up Oversight

After a “recent uptick in delinquency rates” student-loan servicers will soon be getting regular oversight from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Marian Wang
By Marian Wang

Sallie Mae and other large student-loan servicers – the companies that act as a go-between for borrowers and lenders – will soon be getting some regular oversight from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog agency announced this week. ProPublica and others have long documented student borrowers’ troubles with the companies that

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As Students Drown In Debt, Gov’t Rakes In $42 Billion Profit

Huffington Post analysis finds the DoE is raking in windfall profits from the spiraling student debt crisis

Sarah Lazare
By Sarah Lazare

Arne Duncan's Department of Education is making a killing from student debt. A report in Monday's Huffington Post reveals that, in the fiscal year ending September 30th, 2013, the DoE raked in $42.5 billion in profit from federal student loans—marking its second highest profit margin ever. The DoE appears to have become dependent on this

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Is The Student Loan Bubble About To Burst?

In a move eerily reminiscent of the lead-up to 2007’s subprime mortgage crisis, big banks are shutting down their student loan programs.

Martin Michaels
By Martin Michaels

With more than $1.2 trillion in collective student debt, Americans are more indebted than ever before and banks are beginning to realize that future generations of students will be unable to repay their loans. One by one, banks across the U.S. have been scaling back or canceling their student loan programs. JPMorgan Chase followed U.S. Bank this

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College Tuition Hikes Deepen Inequality

Data show that while college may still technically be “worth it,” tuition hikes are making higher education inaccessible to many.

Martin Michaels
By Martin Michaels

The cost of a college education in the U.S. has skyrocketed 538 percent since 1985, according to a Bloomberg News report that used historical data from the U.S. Department of Labor. For millions of students, obtaining a four-year college degree has become a financial burden, forcing many to incur large debts to finance myriad educational expenses.

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From Child Care to College, Parents Turn To Loans

Tuitions are soaring not only for college education, but daycare services, too.

Martin Michaels
By Martin Michaels

With the cost of college education surpassing an average of $31,395 per year, it’s become common for millions of students to take on loans in order to finance their studies. With collective student debt topping $1 trillion nationally, the average college graduate in 2013 is leaving school with $35,200 according to a recent Fidelity survey. It may

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Report: Half Of All Federal Student Loan Debt Is Not Being Repaid

Half of the outstanding $1 trillion in federal student loan debt is not in a stage of repayment.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

“I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies in 1998,” writes “Simon” from Sacramento, Calif., a long-term unemployed college graduate who shared his debt story with the Project on Student Debt at the Institute for College Access & Success. “My parents never went to a university, and I really had no idea about how student

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