During my years at the University of Houston, I parked my modest Honda in the faculty parking lot next to other modest cars driven by UH professors–mostly Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, and Fords. Then I would walk through the parking lot reserved for administrators, and all the vehicles were luxury cars: Audis, Lexuses, BMWs, and expensive … Read more
When Joe Biden was running for President, he said he would cancel $10,000 of every college borrower’s student debt if Congress consented. But Congress hasn’t acted. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Charles Schumer have urged President Biden to cancel $50,000 of every borrower’s federal student loans, saying he has the executive power to do so. But … Read more
Don’t lend money to a friend, an ancient proverb advises, because you will lose both your friend and your money. My cousin Rudy taught me that lesson. A couple of years ago, Rudy called me from the Travis County Jail in Austin, TX, asking me to go his bail. I can’t remember why the Texans … Read more
Quite a few country songs are about guys who made a big mistake when they were young and went to prison. Merle Haggard tells a story about a man who “turned 21 in prison, doin’ life without parole.” George Jones eulogizes a wretch who spent eighteen years in the slammer “and still has life to … Read more
Last year, in response to the COVID pandemic, the Department of Education pressed the pause button on the federal student-loan program. In March 2020, DOE allowed 30 million student borrowers to stop making payments on their student loans with no penalty and no accumulation of interest. DOE also stopped collection actions during this moratorium and … Read more
In 2020, Debra Jean Marchus filed an adversary proceeding in a North Dakota bankruptcy court, seeking to discharge about $38,000 in student-loan debt. After a trial, Bankruptcy Judge Shon Hastings wiped out the debt. As summarized in Judge Hastings’s decision, Ms. Marchus began her journey through higher education in 1975, forty-five years before she filed … Read more
Diane Ashline, a 47-year old single mother, worked for 20 years as a dental assistant. Hoping to increase her income, she took out student loans to get an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree from Kaplan University, a for-profit school. Unfortunately, these degrees did not help her financially. Ashline never defaulted on her student loans. … Read more
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cotton production was a staple of America’s Southern economy. Even today, the United States is one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton. But cotton has some problems. Grown year after year, cotton depletes the soil. Before commercial fertilizers became available, cotton growers simply grew cotton on a … Read more
According to a recent report by the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), the 2020 class of college graduates has amassed $136 billion in private student debt. When this amount is added to the total student debt from federal student loans–about $1.8 trillion, Americans are on the hook for almost $2 trillion in student … Read more
I recently stopped off at my local natural food store to pick up a box of my favorite organic breakfast cereal. The stuff tastes like maple-flavored cardboard, which I prefer to strawberry-flavored cardboard. This cereal is expensive, and when I picked up the box, I noticed it seemed too light–like it was only half full. … Read more
When I was a child, my parents were poor. That was OK because almost everyone in my little Oklahoma town was poor, and we all told each other that we were in the middle class. By the time I graduated high school, my parents had clawed their way into the actual middle class, and they … Read more
If you are thinking about going to law school, you should read a recent report titled “Student Debt: The Holistic Impact on Today’s Young Lawyers.” According to the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division, 90 percent of young lawyers who responded to an ABA survey said they had taken out student loans to finance their legal education. … Read more
More than one hundred public interest groups sent a letter to President Biden this week urging him to cancel all student debt. How much are we talking about? Close to $2 trillion. I will say upfront that I support wholesale student-loan forgiveness. As numerous studies have pointed out, burdensome student debt has kept millions of … Read more
When we go on vacation, most of us sleep late, basking in the luxury of rising in the morning whenever we wish. Then our vacation ends, and we have to set our alarm clock again. And we find it damned difficult to pop out of bed at 6 AM to get to work on time. … Read more
Vista College, a chain of for-profit college campuses, closed and went bankrupt a few days ago. Most Vista campuses are in Texas, but the chain filed its bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware. Who Owns Vista College? Education Futures Group (EFG), a Chicago-based private equity firm, holds a majority interest. Jim Tolbert, Vista’s CEO, owns 16.7 percent. … Read more