Student Loans are in tough shape

Ben Miller, the senior director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, has a depressing article in today's Times. Of borrowers who started repaying in 2012, just over 10 percent had defaulted three years later. However, the feds officially track student loans for three years. At the end of that period the default rate continued climbing to 16 percent over the next two years, after official tracking ended, meaning more than 841,000 borrowers were in default. Nearly as many were severely delinquent or not repaying their loans (for reasons besides going back to school or being in the military). The share of students facing serious struggles rose to 30 percent over all.