Disconcerting Data on Student Debt - Doug Lederman

You'd have to have been living under a rock not to know that student loan debt is a problem, and getting worse. The issue has become a stock part of politicians' speeches (including the new president's), motivated the creation of advocacy groups, and been the thesis of numerous conferences and reports. But an analysis released today by a Washington think tank, based on newly available federal survey data, aims to show that the steady, long-term growth in student borrowing has intensified in recent years, and that student borrowers have increasingly turned to more expensive "alternative" loans to meet their escalating college bills.