European University Institute Library

The student loan mess, how good intentions created a trillion-dollar problem, Joel Best, Eric Best

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-229) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The student loan mess

bibliography

993119306

Joel Best, Eric Best

how good intentions created a trillion-dollar problem

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.--, Provided by publisher

1. Good Intentions and Wasted Brainpower: The First Student Loan Mess 2. Disillusionment and Deadbeats: The Second Student Loan Mess 3. Outrage and Crushing Debt: The Third Student Loan Mess 4. Dread and the For-Profit Bubble: The Fourth Student Loan Mess 5. What's Next? Prospective Student Loan Messes 6. Beyond Making Messes?