Causes of Rising Debt

Student debt did not explode because one generation decided to major in something useless and order avocado toast. It grew because the cost of...

The numbers are not your imagination. The cost of a bachelor’s degree in the United States has roughly tripled since the 1980s, even after adjusting...

The sticker price of college didn’t creep up. It sprinted. Since the 1980s, tuition and fees at American colleges have risen far faster than...

You did not imagine it. College tuition has climbed much faster than inflation, wages, and almost everything else in your budget. No single villain...

The sticker price of college didn’t double because professors got greedy. It rose because states cut funding, schools spent more on administration...

If you graduated with student debt, you probably asked how it got so big. The answer isn’t that you were lazy or bad with money. The system changed...

When you’re staring down a $400 monthly loan payment and your grocery budget is a calculator app, the idea of philanthropy can feel like a bad joke...

If you’ve got student loans, you know the feeling. You open the servicer’s app, see a number with a comma in it, and your chest tightens. Maybe you...

Student debt is not an equal burden. Two people can borrow the same amount for the same degree and end up with very different lives. Race and income...

Income-driven repayment has been federal law for over a decade, and it still fails the people it was built to protect. The reason is almost never the...

You have probably seen the big number: Americans owe roughly $1.7 trillion in student loans. That number is real, but it is not your number. About 42...

If you borrowed for college, you already know the system isn’t just expensive. It’s confusing. You can have four servicers, three repayment plans...