Overview

Society relies on our colleges to solve our social problems, graduating skilled people to become teachers, social workers, doctors, entrepreneurs and innovators who can improve our collective quality of life.  We also rely on college to offer opportunities to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, acting as a force of fairness and equality.

These days, college is practically a necessity.  But as states cut budgets, and grant aid has diminished, students are relying on loans to pay for college.  Today, the average student borrows almost $20,000 in student loans to pay for college.  In addition, nearly one-third of all students work more than 35 hours a week to pay for college, hindering their academic progress.  

To lower student debt, Congress passed a landmark piece of legislation in March 2010, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which cut wasteful bank subsidies to increase Pell Grants for students. 

But more and more students are moving beyond financial aid to finance their degrees with private student loans.  Private loans are much riskier, bringing applicants in with low advertised interest rates but spitting them out with higher interest rates and record debt levels.

Worse, loan pricing targets lower income students with higher interest rates and penalty fees.  As a result, students with need based grants are graduating with the most debt, and debt with higher interest.  

Our project is working to protect students as consumers against the banks, make federal loans for parents more competitive toward private student loans, and give students more flexibility within the federal loan programs when their circumstances change, so they don’t need to turn toward banks for college financing.