History of Student Loans
Student loans were not made available for most of the history of higher education, particularly from the government until the beginning of the 20th century. Early forms of higher education financing in the U.S. began at Harvard University, when the school created the …show more content…
“Americans age 60 and older is the fastest-growing group of student loan borrowers, according to a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that examines borrower complaints. There are now about 2.8 million Americans who are 60 or older with at least one student loan”(New York Times). Some of them do carry their own student loans, but the majority of them have educational debt taken out for their children or grandchildren, by either taking a loan or co-signing loans, according to the report (New York Times). Manhattan bankruptcy lawyer Dave Shaev said, “What you’re seeing now in the student-loan area is not only the debtor, but the family of the debtor. Mom and Dad are usually the co-signers, and sometimes Grandma or Grandpa are having to dive into retirement funds and home equities to try to bail out a daughter or son with student loans, because the jobs they are getting do not allow them to keep up on the payments” (New York Post.). As a result of their debt, there have been offsets or deductions form their Social Security when they fail to pay their federal debt according to a recent analysis by the Government Accountability