The average class of 2015 borrower will graduate college with just over $35,000 in debt. (Photo: teofilo/flickr/cc)
May 17, 2015
With student debt figures continuing to climb, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to unveil legislation this week to provide tuition-free higher education for students at 4-year colleges and universities in the United States.
The proposal, which Sanders plans to introduce on Tuesday, would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities and expand work-study programs.
"Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people," Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, said in a news release. "They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same."
Earlier this year, in a speech at Johnson State College in Vermont, Sanders called for a "revolution" in the way higher education is funded in the U.S.
"We must fundamentally restructure our student loan program," he said at the time, adding: "It makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must also end the practice of the government making $127 billion over the next decade in profits from student loans."
The average class of 2015 borrower will graduate college with just over $35,000 in debt, according to an analysis by Edvisors, a publisher of free websites about planning and paying for college. What's more, a full 71 percent of this year's college graduates borrowed money to pay for their undergraduate education. As the Boston Globeput it, the class of 2015 is "the most indebted class in history, graduating with a whopping $56 billion in student loan debt."
Meanwhile, the Huffington Postreported that on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "launched a broad review of the often murky business of student loan servicing, questioning whether the roughly 40 million Americans with student debt are being treated fairly under a patchwork of rules and market forces that could leave them vulnerable to abuse."
The review, wrote HuffPo financial and regulatory correspondent Shahien Nasiripour, "is the clearest sign that the federal consumer agency intends to establish stronger rules governing the roughly $1.2 trillion student debt market. Nearly 90 percent of student debt is overseen by the oft-criticized U.S. Department of Education, and borrowers say dodgy practices are common, bad information rampant, and basic necessities like full payment histories or accurate pay-off amounts often hard to obtain."
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
With student debt figures continuing to climb, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to unveil legislation this week to provide tuition-free higher education for students at 4-year colleges and universities in the United States.
The proposal, which Sanders plans to introduce on Tuesday, would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities and expand work-study programs.
"Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people," Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, said in a news release. "They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same."
Earlier this year, in a speech at Johnson State College in Vermont, Sanders called for a "revolution" in the way higher education is funded in the U.S.
"We must fundamentally restructure our student loan program," he said at the time, adding: "It makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must also end the practice of the government making $127 billion over the next decade in profits from student loans."
The average class of 2015 borrower will graduate college with just over $35,000 in debt, according to an analysis by Edvisors, a publisher of free websites about planning and paying for college. What's more, a full 71 percent of this year's college graduates borrowed money to pay for their undergraduate education. As the Boston Globeput it, the class of 2015 is "the most indebted class in history, graduating with a whopping $56 billion in student loan debt."
Meanwhile, the Huffington Postreported that on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "launched a broad review of the often murky business of student loan servicing, questioning whether the roughly 40 million Americans with student debt are being treated fairly under a patchwork of rules and market forces that could leave them vulnerable to abuse."
The review, wrote HuffPo financial and regulatory correspondent Shahien Nasiripour, "is the clearest sign that the federal consumer agency intends to establish stronger rules governing the roughly $1.2 trillion student debt market. Nearly 90 percent of student debt is overseen by the oft-criticized U.S. Department of Education, and borrowers say dodgy practices are common, bad information rampant, and basic necessities like full payment histories or accurate pay-off amounts often hard to obtain."
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
With student debt figures continuing to climb, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to unveil legislation this week to provide tuition-free higher education for students at 4-year colleges and universities in the United States.
The proposal, which Sanders plans to introduce on Tuesday, would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities and expand work-study programs.
"Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people," Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, said in a news release. "They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same."
Earlier this year, in a speech at Johnson State College in Vermont, Sanders called for a "revolution" in the way higher education is funded in the U.S.
"We must fundamentally restructure our student loan program," he said at the time, adding: "It makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must also end the practice of the government making $127 billion over the next decade in profits from student loans."
The average class of 2015 borrower will graduate college with just over $35,000 in debt, according to an analysis by Edvisors, a publisher of free websites about planning and paying for college. What's more, a full 71 percent of this year's college graduates borrowed money to pay for their undergraduate education. As the Boston Globeput it, the class of 2015 is "the most indebted class in history, graduating with a whopping $56 billion in student loan debt."
Meanwhile, the Huffington Postreported that on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "launched a broad review of the often murky business of student loan servicing, questioning whether the roughly 40 million Americans with student debt are being treated fairly under a patchwork of rules and market forces that could leave them vulnerable to abuse."
The review, wrote HuffPo financial and regulatory correspondent Shahien Nasiripour, "is the clearest sign that the federal consumer agency intends to establish stronger rules governing the roughly $1.2 trillion student debt market. Nearly 90 percent of student debt is overseen by the oft-criticized U.S. Department of Education, and borrowers say dodgy practices are common, bad information rampant, and basic necessities like full payment histories or accurate pay-off amounts often hard to obtain."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.