A recent report completed by the Center for American Progress looks at
how the economy could benefit from student loan discharge. While getting
student loan debt eliminated in bankruptcy can be done only under strict
circumstances, many hope lawmakers reconsider making changes to a
bankruptcy law that dates back to the mid-1970s that made getting rid of such debt literally
impossible.
Many find it somewhat silly that gambling and credit card debt get better
treatment in bankruptcy than student loan debt. Currently, 1 in 8 student
borrowers are in default and unfortunately, this figure has tripled from
10 years ago. The amount of outstanding student loan debt is staggering
with a total amount over a trillion dollars.
The concept of discharging student loan debt may actually help the economy
depending on how you look at it. Researchers looked at employment rates
of colleges and figure that schools with a higher employment rate may
give students a better chance at paying off what they owe. If a student
attends a college with a lower employment rate after graduation, they
should be eligible for discharge of their student loan, especially if
repayment terms seem unrealistic.
Basically, loans that students can sustain would not be eligible for discharge.
Private lenders may not have as much protection as they do now and more
of these types of loans would be eligible for elimination. A special “Qualified
Student Loan” system could be developed that would benefit both educational
institutions and students.
On the other hand, there are a few problems we still need to deal with.
The cost of going to college continues to rise and has risen by roughly
27 percent in the last 5 years alone. Congress hasn’t made things
any easier by cutting off tens of billions of dollars in student loan funding.