Many of the problems that led to the failure of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program are IDR problems in disguise—such as borrowers being steered into the wrong repayment plan and Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) servicers failing to tell borrowers of consolidation options. These problems will not be corrected by a solution that only addresses the PSLF program.
Student loans create debt burdens that impact families for generations. Black Americans in general, and Black and Latina women in particular -- often are forced to take on more college debt than their white counterparts in pursuit of the American Dream. The student debt burden is felt most acutely by attendees of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. CRL successfully led a coalition of advocates that achieved substantial student debt cancellation in 2022. We continue to advocate for higher education policies to protect student loan borrowers and their parents from falling into a cycle of debt that keeps them from engaging in wealth-building activities.
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Letter to the CFPB from 79 consumer, housing, civil rights, legal services, faith, community, small business, and financial organizations groups regarding supervision and enforcement of fintech products and fee models that threaten to evade credit, consumer protection, and fair lending laws.
In a letter to California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), the Student Borrower Protection Center, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of California, Consumer Reports, the Student Debt Crisis Center, the National Consumer Law Center, NextGen Policy, and Young Invincibles commented on proposed rules for education financing products in California. The letter notes that the DFPI’s draft regulations already mark a substantial step forward in efforts to shine a light on the risky shadow student debt market while pointing to key areas in which the...
For-profit colleges are big businesses, primarily funded by taxpayers. Many deliver poor instructional quality at high cost, causing a high proportion of students to drop out. Even for those students who do graduate, gainful employment in the field that they trained for is frequently elusive. Both non-completers and graduates bear high burdens of debt relative to their post college earnings and default on that debt in large numbers relative to those students who attended public and private non-profit colleges. Interactive Map Many for-profit students are nontraditional students, making...
The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...
The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...
As Adam Harris writes in his 2021 book, The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—And How to Set Them Right: “America’s colleges and universities have a dirty open secret: they have never given Black people an equal chance to succeed.” Despite long-standing systemic challenges and the small average size of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), these institutions have an impact significantly greater than one would expect and perform a critical function for Black students. Nationally, HBCUs annually generate more than 130,000 jobs and almost $15...
The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis impacts over 44 million families nationwide, and the burden of student loans falls particularly heavily on Black students because of historical and ongoing systemic racism. While Black families themselves typically have less wealth to draw upon to pay for college due to the racial wealth gap, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have also been underfunded throughout their histories, compounding the challenges for HBCU students who face financial challenges at both the familial and institutional levels. These challenges often result in...
On October 28, 2021, the Center for Responsible Lending and the United Negro College Fund hosted a virtual discussion highlighting how the COVID-19 crisis has affected Black students nationwide due to our nation’s ongoing systemic racism. The talk highlighted new findings that reveal how the experiences of Black student loan borrowers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) differ from the experiences of their Black peers at predominately white institutions (PWIs). Panelists drove home the need for $50,000 in across-the-board student loan cancellation and increased HBCU...
Even before COVID-19, student loan borrowers struggled under the weight of more than $1.6 trillion in debt. One in four borrowers was in default or serious delinquency, and many worried about their ability to make student loan payments while covering other basic needs. Because of decades of structural inequities and discrimination, student loans have burdened Black and Latino borrowers more than other groups, and now these borrowers of color are also among those disproportionately harmed by COVID-19. Recognizing that the crisis impacted many borrowers’ abilities to repay their debts, the...