From NPR today – “Student Loans A Lot Like The Subprime Mortgage Debacle, Watchdog Says."
The doomsday perspective:
“Calhoun’s the president of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. For decades he’s been keeping watch to protect people from reckless lending. He says that with student loans, just like with the housing crisis, there’s no consideration about whether the person getting the loan will be able to repay it.”
“Once again, it’s the mismatch between the debt and the borrower’s income, their ability to repay,” Calhoun says. This time around it’s the government making the vast majority of the loans. That’s effectively turned the Department of Education into the country’s largest consumer lender.”
The “It’s not quite that bad” perspective:
McPherson says the vast majority of people are clearly better off financially if they have a college or advanced degree, even if they do have student loans. And he says, “a lot of people borrow a small amount of money, so a third of all the people owe less than $10,000.”