Follow the author on Twitter @ryannliebenthal
Available for free* to the first person that asks for my copy
or for purchase at: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/burdened-ryann-liebenthal?variant=41472117669922
Summary:
College costs more today than ever and is worth less. Tuition at public colleges has more than tripled in the past 50 years. Over the same period student debt has grown from virtually nothing to more than $1.7 trillion, second only to home mortgages.
Skyrocketing student-loan burdens are leading an entire generation to put off the traditional milestones of adulthood: buying homes, getting married, starting families, and saving for retirement. The burden weighs heavier on women and black Americans, and with almost 10 percent of student debtors now over the age of 60, it is a crisis no longer limited to the young.
Ryann Liebenthal’s Burdened tells the maddening story of how the power plays of legislators and presidents, the commodification of higher ed, and the rapacious practices of for-profit colleges and private lenders have created today’s student-debt lava pit.
As the notion of student-loan cancellation percolates into the political mainstream, Liebenthal offers a deeply researched, sweeping narrative of our broken system. Rather than give in to despair, she boldly charts a way out, offering hopeful solutions to this seemingly unfixable problem.
Skyrocketing student-loan burdens are leading an entire generation to put off the traditional milestones of adulthood: buying homes, getting married, starting families, and saving for retirement. The burden weighs heavier on women and black Americans, and with almost 10 percent of student debtors now over the age of 60, it is a crisis no longer limited to the young.
Ryann Liebenthal’s Burdened tells the maddening story of how the power plays of legislators and presidents, the commodification of higher ed, and the rapacious practices of for-profit colleges and private lenders have created today’s student-debt lava pit.
As the notion of student-loan cancellation percolates into the political mainstream, Liebenthal offers a deeply researched, sweeping narrative of our broken system. Rather than give in to despair, she boldly charts a way out, offering hopeful solutions to this seemingly unfixable problem.
Commentary:
As an incredible bankruptcy nerd, I do feel a little disappointed that Ms. Liebenthal's book was perhaps the last best opportunity for an investigative journalist to find out what happened to Marie Brunner after she became the poster child for the draconian and cruel undue hardship test in bankruptcy.
Other than that minor quibble, this is really the best history of student loans that I have read and is also a searing criticism of how both parties have repeatedly failed not just student borrowers but also our country.
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*You do have to promise to read the book and pass it along to someone else.
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