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The student debt crisis is largely due to the federal government's not taking responsibility for protecting citizens. Weakening accountability leads to more defaults. Terrifying, given the current administration. h/t @n_hillman Fascinating paper: philadelphiafed.org/-/media/resear… 
The authors compare the student debt crisis to the subprime mortgage crisis. Legitimate concerns about access provided a cover for shady operators to give loans to people/institutions that should have never gotten them.
Basic idea is that when the federal gov't says, "hey, we'll cover the loans you make," new institutions pop up to grab that $.
Then, when the defaults start exploding, the government starts restricting the easy flow of $, and a bunch of institutions die. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.
The big driver in defaults isn't bigger forces like recessions or "the price of college." It's new schools popping up, mostly for-profits (although I wonder about all these hyperexpensive and questionable masters programs that legit universities are running as money-makers.
I'm not a praying person, but if I were it would be that the HEA is not reauthorized until the Democrats have control of Congress.
UNROLL @threadreaderapp
