The Student Loan Mess - by Joel Best & Eric Best (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Student loan debt in the U.S. now exceeds $1 trillion, more than the nation's credit-card debt. This timely book explains how and why student loans evolved, the concerns they've raised along the way, and how each policy designed to fix student loans winds up making things worse. The authors, a father and son team, provide an intergenerational, interdisciplinary approach to understanding how, over the last 70 years, Americans incrementally, with the best intentions, created our current student loan disaster. They examine the competing interests and shifting societal expectations that contributed to the problem, and offer recommendations for confronting the larger problem of college costs and student borrowing in the future"--

Book Synopsis

This illuminating investigation uncovers the full dimensions of the student loan disaster. A father and son team--one a best-selling sociologist, the other a former banker and current quantitative researcher--probes how we've reached the point at which student loan debt--now exceeding $1 trillion and predicted to reach $2 trillion by 2020--threatens to become the sequel to the mortgage meltdown. In spite of their good intentions, Americans have allowed concerns about deadbeat students, crushing debt, exploitative for-profit colleges, and changing attitudes about the purpose of college education to blind them to a growing crisis.

With college costs climbing faster than the cost of living, how can access to higher education remain a central part of the American dream? With more than half of college students carrying an average debt of $27,000 at graduation, what are the prospects for young adults in the current economy? Examining how we've arrived at and how we might extricate ourselves from this grave social problem, The Student Loan Mess is a must-read for everyone concerned about the future of American education.

Hard facts about the student loan crisis:

- Student loan debt is rising by more than $100 billion every year.
- Among recent college students who are supposed to be repaying their loans, more than a third are delinquent.
- Because student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, the federal government misleadingly treats student loan debt as a government asset.
- Higher default rates, spiraling college costs, and proposals for more generous terms for student borrowers make it increasingly likely that student loan policies will eventually cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

From the Back Cover

"Written with clarity and grace. . . . My highest recommendation."--Jonathan B. Imber, Editor in Chief, Society

"In this fully documented--but highly readable--study, Joel and Eric Best parcel out the blame among politicians, educational institutions, and the students themselves. Importantly, they propose timely actions to take 'before this latest financial bubble bursts.'"--Richard J. Mahoney, Distinguished Executive-in-Residence, Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy, Washington University, St. Louis

"Edgy and astute. . . . This engaging book will appeal to a broad audience of interested general readers."--John Iceland, Professor of Sociology and Demography, Penn State University

Review Quotes

"Probably the best and clearest book on the United States' complex student debt problem."--Tyler Cowen "TLS" (11/26/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"The Student Loan Mess offers a compact, useful history."--John Marsh "Academe" (9/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Joel Best is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and author of Damned Lies and Statistics, Stat-Spotting, and Everyone's a Winner, all from UC Press. Eric Best is Assistant Professor of Emergency Management at Jacksonville State University.