The Student Loan Mess: How Good Intentions Created a Trillion-Dollar Problem

by Eric Best, Joel Best

This illuminating investigation uncovers the full dimensions of the student loan disaster. A father and son team—one a best-selling sociologist, the other a former banker and current quantitative researcher—probes how we’ve reached the point at which student loan debt—now exceeding $1 trillion and predicted to reach $2 trillion by 2020—threatens to become the sequel to the mortgage meltdown. In spite of their good intentions, Americans have allowed concerns about deadbeat students, crushing debt, exploitative for-profit colleges, and changing attitudes about the purpose of college education to blind them to a growing crisis.

With college costs climbing faster than the cost of living, how can access to higher education remain a central part of the American dream? With more than half of college students carrying an average debt of $27,000 at graduation, what are the prospects for young adults in the current economy? Examining how we’ve arrived at and how we might extricate ourselves from this grave social problem, The Student Loan Mess is a must-read for everyone concerned about the future of American education.

Hard facts about the student loan crisis:

• Student loan debt is rising by more than $100 billion every year.
• Among recent college students who are supposed to be repaying their loans, more than a third are delinquent.
• Because student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, the federal government misleadingly treats student loan debt as a government asset.
• Higher default rates, spiraling college costs, and proposals for more generous terms for student borrowers make it increasingly likely that student loan policies will eventually cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Genres: Economics

248 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 2014

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book over the summer when the Chronicle of Higher Education was featuring it in a six-week 'book club.' As it is written by a father-son economist-sociologist team, I thought it would provide an interesting, new perspective to the problem of student loans. However, this was not the case. The narrative was old and repetitive; there wasn't much in here that I haven't already read or heard straight from universities themselves.

It might be a good crash course for someone new to higher education, but those of us who have been immersed in the field for a while will find nothing new.

[Daan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So what do we learn first of all that the Student Debt Crisis is very old? And was started as a good idea. And the basic ideas are good but financial very hard to attain if things go wrong. And things have been going wrong with every once in a while a new law, new system, with new rules. Trying to fix the issues. A bandage on an ever-worsening wound.
And politically seen it is very hard to deal with the big issues. The big issue, that is a lot of debt and a part might not get paid back. How much won't be paid back is very hard to know. Even the government doesn't know... and all the while new students are taking bigger loans.
Of course, the book also goes into the many factors leading to all this, the rising prices, the dependencies of universities upon loan systems and how the government got involved with it all.
It is a mess, a bloody mess.
And though the authors do offer a few painful solutions at the end, knowing politics little will happen.

You learn a lot about how the debt got to become what it is these days.

Also, ever had Christmas Cake? You know the Fruit Cake variant.. this is very condensed and very THICK to read. You might need to take a break to think after only 2-3 pages.

[Maggie Huseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Student loan debt is now exceeding $1 trillion and is projected to reach $2 trillion by 2020. With more than half of college students carrying an average debt of $27,000 at graduation, The Student Loan Mess is a must-read for everyone concerned about the future of the American education. This nonfiction book was written by a father and son team— a best-selling sociologist, the other a former banker and current quantitative researcher. Eric and Joel Best look into the history of loan programs and the policies that shaped what they have become today. Although the text can feel a bit repetitive at times, the authors do a good job connecting to their main thesis and provide a good crash course for someone new to higher education. The book provides the reader with very many facts such as, “because student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, the federal government misleadingly treats student loan debt as a government asset.” Also they include many shocking statistics such as, “among recent college students who are supposed to be repaying their loans, more than a third are delinquent.” I would recommend this book to every college student and/or their parent because it is a quick read that provides high quality information. Student loans have become a big problem in society today and it is important for high schoolers to learn about the risks before they become an outrageous problem post graduation. Eric and Joel also attempt to frame their discussion by examining how we’ve arrived to this mess and by offering their "plan" to fix the social problem before we are all in trouble and the economy collapses.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly accessible, quick read that gets to the heart of so many of the big stories in higher education today, with great historical perspective on the development of post-secondary education since WWII. This is a great book to better understand the current debates over HEA reauthorization and the new directions of higher ed accreditors. I feel even better about having recently paid my old loans off.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

good information-- probably should be read by every college student or their parent.

[Mills College Library]

378.362 B5613 2014