To get rid of student loan debt through bankruptcy, you must prove to the court that paying back your student loans would cause an “undue hardship.” But in our peer-reviewed study of nearly 700 student loan discharge cases spanning 1985 to 2020, we found that judges’ decisions to dismiss student loans are often influenced by personal […] … learn more→

It’s always interesting when you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. Some children seem to come into the world with a definite idea of who they are meant to be. Knowing your path in life from an early age is quite amazing, when you think of it. Other kids seem […] … learn more→

At the end of June 2021, 43 million borrowers – or about 14% of all adults in the U.S. – owed approximately US$1.59 trillion in outstanding federal student loans. Although in many cases the media has focused on borrowers with extremely large balances – such as the orthodontist who owes over $1 million in student loans – the average balance is […] … learn more→

My dear friends and colleagues, the pain and fear we now feel is something we never expected and certainly could never have planned for. The sacrifices now made by our brothers and sisters around the globe are above and beyond anything we have seen in peacetime. In this maelstrom we are bound to feel powerless […] … learn more→

Paying back student loans is not an easy thing to do. One out of every 5 borrowers with outstanding student loan debt has fallen behind their payments. There are several ways borrowers can get help to deal with their debt burden. Bankruptcy is the most extreme. In general, the law does not allow you to get rid […] … learn more→

Back in 2017, I started regularly leaving my office at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, to speak to high school students in the Texas Panhandle. This past fall, I did the same thing in the South Plains. These two areas are the northern most 46 counties in the state of Texas. Driving a […] … learn more→

It’s been known for a decade or two that we have a real problem with the cost of a college degree relative to the financial boon of having one, but at long last our government is catching on as well: … the U.S. Department of Education released data on first-year earnings for thousands of different […] … learn more→

I’ve been hearing people seriously talk about cancelling student loan debt for at least a decade, probably more. Granted, almost everyone who’s for it has student debt, and most everyone against it doesn’t have student debt, so I appreciate conflict of interest here…but this is ad hominem, there are valid reasons both for and against […] … learn more→

I’ve been hearing people seriously talk about cancelling student loan debt for at least a decade, probably more. Granted, almost everyone who’s for it has student debt, and most everyone against it doesn’t have student debt, so I appreciate conflict of interest here…but this is ad hominem, there are valid reasons both for and against […] … learn more→

I’ve covered before how many college graduates now become prostitutes to help pay off their student debt, but that’s only addressing what happens after a student graduates and realizes her degree is worthless and has no choice. A far larger share of students become prostitutes, or semi-prostitutes (at the risk of splitting hairs) while still […] … learn more→