Insights

Why Washington Won’t Fix Student Debt Plans That Overload Families

By Rebecca Ballhaus and Andrea Fuller

Wall Street Journal

“U.S. lawmakers know the federal Plus student-loan programs have plunged millions of families into debt. They aren’t eager to fix the problem.

Congress in the 1990s created a way for parents to borrow essentially unlimited amounts to send their children to college. It did the same for graduate students roughly a decade later.

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While education-sector lobbying has dropped from its 2010 peak, schools and their associations rank among the top industries spending on lobbying the federal government. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, said the association has lobbied to preserve Grad Plus without caps because it helps elevate low-income and other minority groups into the middle class, adding: “Graduate education should not be a luxury.”