The debt trap : how student loans became a national catastrophe
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published
New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2021.
Status
Westover - Adult Nonfiction
378.38 MITCH
1 available

Copies

LocationCall NumberStatusDue Date
Central - Adult Nonfiction378.38 MITCHChecked OutApril 18, 2024
Westover - Adult Nonfiction378.38 MITCHAvailable

Description

Loading Description...

More Details

Published
New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2021.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
260 pages ; 23 cm
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical resources (page 245) and index.
Description
"In 1982, a new executive at Sallie Mae took home the company's financial documents to review. "You've got to be shitting me," he later told the company's CEO. "This place is a gold mine." Over the next four decades, the student loan industry that Sallie Mae and Congress created blew up into a crisis that would submerge a generation of Americans in $1.5 trillion in student debt. In The Debt Trap, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell tells the untold story of the scandals, scams, predatory actors, and government malpractice that have created the behemoth that one of its original architects called a "monster." The tale begins in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik. Afraid that America was falling behind the Soviets in science education, Congress created the first major federal student loan program to enroll more students in college. What followed were a series of well-intentioned government actions that created a cycle of reckless lending and runaway tuition. Easy access to loans allowed colleges to raise tuition to unheard of levels, which in turn led Congress to increase loan limits and interest rates and expand who could borrow. This spiral continued as the private banks that fronted the money made huge profits on interest. "Nobody was pure in this business," one former college president said. As he charts the gripping seventy-year history of student debt in America, Mitchell never loses sight of the countless student victims ensnared by an exploitive system that depends on their debt. Mitchell also draws alarming parallels to the housing crisis in the late 2000s, showing the catastrophic consequences student debt has had on families and the nation's future. Mitchell's character-driven narrative is required reading for anyone wanting to understand the central economic issue of our day.

Also in this Series

Checking series information...

More Like This

Loading more titles like this title...

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Mitchell, J. (2021). The debt trap: how student loans became a national catastrophe (First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.). Simon & Schuster.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Mitchell, Josh. 2021. The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe. Simon & Schuster.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Mitchell, Josh. The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe Simon & Schuster, 2021.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Mitchell, Josh. The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition., Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.