I am not a doomsayer or a survivalist, and I try to stay away from apocalyptic bloggers. But James Howard Kunstler, whose blog site goes by the unfortunate name of Clusterfuck Nation, is making persuasive arguments that our postmodern economy, hopped up on cheap energy and enormous debt levels, is unsustainable. In fact, he predicts … Read more
In recent blogs, I discussed two cases in which Educational Credit Management Corporation, the Department of Education’s most ruthless student-loan debt collector, was sanctioned by a court for misbehavior. In the Bruner-Halteman case, a Texas bankruptcy judge assessed punitive damages against ECMC for garnishing the wages of a bankrupt Starbucks employee in violation of the … Read more
In a recent post, I wrote about Alan and Catherine Murray, who won a partial discharge of their student-loan debt in a bankruptcy case decided in December 2016. Educational Credit Management (ECMC), the creditor in their case, is appealing the decision. We should all hope ECMC loses the appeal, because the Murrays are the poster … Read more
Do you remember political consultant James Carville’s famous line during the 1992 presidential campaign? “It’s the economy, stupid,” Carville supposedly observed. That eloquently simple remark became Bill Clinton’s distilled campaign message and helped propel him into the presidency. Something similar might be said about the student-loan crisis. “It’s the interest, stupid.” In fact, for many … Read more
About a year ago, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against DeVry University, alleging that DeVry had engaged in deceptive advertising. Specifically, the FTC charged DeVry with making false claims about the employment prospects for DeVry graduates. This month, DeVry settled the FTC lawsuit for $100 million, which may sound like a lot of … Read more
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Education granted automatic debt relief to all students who attended American Career Institute. As Inside Higher Ed pointed out, this is “the first time the department has granted automatic loan relief to all students of a college without requiring individual applications.” About 650 former ACI students received closed school … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a useful report a few days ago on student-loan indebtedness and older Americans. Here are some of the CFPB’s key findings: “The number of consumers age 60 and older with outstanding student loan debt quadrupled from 2005 to 2015, increasing from about 700,000 to 2.8 million.” During this ten-year … Read more
As the Obama administration limps to a close, the U.S. Department of Education issued two lists that should scare the heck out of anyone working in the field of higher education. First, a few days ago, DOE issued its most recent list of colleges that it flagged for “Heightened Cash Monitoring.” More than 500 colleges … Read more
A few months ago, Steve Rhode posted a thought-provoking blog titled “The Student Loan Bubble That Many Don’t Want to See.” He argued that student-loan indebtedness is in a bubble that will soon burst, creating two huge problems: First, when the student-loan market collapses, postsecondary education will be out of reach for most people, which … Read more
Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his plan to offer a free college education at New York’s public colleges and universities for all New York families making $125,000 or less. This plan is nearly identical to the proposal put forward by Hillary Clinton last fall during the presidential campaign. In a press … Read more