Student Debt Threatens Home Ownership, Entrepreneurship, and Retirement Savings
In a recent OpEd on Politico.com, Rohit Chopra, student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, noted that the skyrocketing rise of unmanageable student debt is draining all aspects of the broader economy. Consider this: Student loan borrowers are far less likely to qualify for mortgages, thereby delaying home ownership and the establishment of separate households. In 2011, 2 million more Americans in the 18-34 age group lived with their parents than in 2007. Moody’s Analytics estimates that each…
House Republicans’ Student Loan Interest Bill Actually Not That Bad
Minnesota Congressman John Kline (R-MN), the Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, co-introduced legislation yesterday to tackle the upcoming student loan interest rate hike by returning to variable interest rates on student loans. The Smarter Solutions for Students Act, otherwise known as H.R. 1911, seeks to tie the federal student loan interest rate to a market-based interest rate (similar to the plan put forth by President…
Elizabeth Warren Knows That Students Are As Important As Banks
Our nation’s largest banks can borrow funds from the federal government at 0.75%. If Congress doesn't act, college students eligible for subsidized Stafford loans will pay 6.8 percent (more than nine times the rate big banks get). Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks this is unfair and has introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act to provide students with some short-term relief until a long-term solution to rising student loan debt can be reached. Warren’s bill would allow students who are eligible for federally…
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rocks Again
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released the nation’s largest searchable public database of federal consumer financial complaints, including information on more than 90,000 individual complaints on mortgages, student loans, bank accounts and services, other consumer loans, and credit cards. “By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray, "The database is good for consumers and it is also good…
TICAS Offers Clever Solutions to Make College More Accessible
There are lots of different kinds of student loans. Repayment options and forgiveness provisions are confusing for even the most informed. This past week, our friends at the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit organization that works to make higher education more available and more affordable, released a report with recommendations including: reforms to simplify the federal aid application process, ways to streamline federal loan repayment options, improvements to student loan counseling, and methods to help borrowers in…
