The Default rates that are being discussed here are hugely misleading, and do not capture even close to all the defaults that actually occur. What the D. of Ed. counts is so called "cohort" default rates, which mean only those loans that defaulted in the fiscal year after the year in which they entered repayment status. Thus, if a lender wished for a defaulted loan not to count towards their default rate, they need only keep the loan active for as long as it takes for the fiscal year to expire, then default the borrower then, thereby keeping outside of the 'cohort' default window. We should ask the Dept. Of Ed, or IG to determine how the true default rate has been doing lately. I have a hunch, but want to see for myself.

The increase in student loan default rates is just the tip of the approaching iceberg.  Banks' vicious, and greedy lending practices have placed millions of students in serious debt.  On top of this, recent graduates entering the job market face exhorbinant housing costs, and relatively low paying jobs leaving them unable to re-pay their loans.

It's time this country provides a free education for all those who seek it.  A practice which is common in Europe.

We all are told to get a college education so that we will be able to earn a self sufficient wage, and take care of our family once we are grown.

We are not told that if we get student loans that no wage is going to be self sufficient and our families will barely get taken care of, but this is how it is for me.  I am a single mother who makes at the most $32000 a year and I can barely afford to buy groceries, or give my child the little things she needs like clothing, and shelter.

I believe something first needs to be done about basing monthly payment on Gross income.  If I took home my Gross income it may not be too hard to miss that $300 a month.

American people seem to be losing any chance we thought we might have.  The American Dream is only for the people born Rich.

The problem with the student loan "situation" is simply that too many people have chosen to ignore the fact that taxpayers have loaned them money and that they have an obligation to pay it back. Worse, the government continues to hand out money without making any kind of a reasonable effort to recover money from deadbeats who ignore their obligations to pay. Seemingly bright people, at least bright enough to be considered college material and who should understand the concepts of borrowing and debt, now feel that they can ignore their obligations to pay up.

Oh, the wailing of liberals who believe that the government and the taxpayer owe them "everything"! It makes me sick!

It is not the fault of the individual taxpayer that "you" have children which you cannot afford and that, in too many cases, you continue to have more children expecting the government to subsidize you. Whatever happened to the concept of planning? Responsible people plan, save and have children when they can afford them. They also do not borrow money and then attempt to dodge repayment.

The concept that individuals can blithely go through life, responsibly or irresponsibly, and that the government will provide them health care, housing, child care, etc. cradle to grave is not historically American. It is the concept of a Socialist state and if that is how you want to live, then why not find yourself a socialist country to live in?

I agree with Jim but would like to add that it is my belief that many loans go unpaid because the rise in college tuition far exceeds the income earned for new graduates coming out of school.  It used to be that there was no such thing as taking a loan for college, at least not from the government.  Consequently, colleges had to make tuition somewhat affordable if they wanted to have any student populus.  Once loans became available to everybody "affordability" was taken out of the equation and opened the door for colleges to charge virtually as much as they felt they could get.  Most people focus on today and worry about paying tomorrow, which leads to financial trouble.  College is NOT for those born rich.  I was not born rich and managed to get through 8 years of college.  Now I am paying it back and yes it is a lot per month but my earning potential is greatly enhanced and one day student loans will be a thing of the past for me.

 

I have a relative who is a professor at a nationally-known university.  According to this individual, nobody at the university paid any attention to the complaints of the students regarding the unceasing annual tuition increase (which were double or more of the inflation rate) UNTIL student loan defaults by graduates of the university became so high that the university was in danger of being listed by the government as ineligible for further student loans.  (The government had previously used this method to make it impossible for phoney trade schools to keep ripping off gullible young people, but as the amounts that students were borrowing kept rising, eventually "respectable" schools started having high default rates.)  In other words, the university didn't care that the loan payments that their graduates faced were disproportionate to the income that they were capable of earning until the whole Ponzi scheme was going to explode on them.  Then they started offering some kind of doofy credit counseling service.  They surely didn't decide to cut back some of the waste and eliminate tuition hikes.