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Part 1: Addressing the Flaws of the Current Student Loan Collection System
Part 2: Solutions to Address Student Loan Default and Collections
Part 3: The Role of States in Reforming Our Broken Student Loan Collection System
Beyond Fresh Start Paper Series
Background
In April, the White House announced the Department of Education is taking steps to give a fresh start to millions of struggling borrowers who are currently in default on federal student loans, protecting them from the harsh consequences of default if payments resume in the future.
For too long, defaulted borrowers have slipped through the cracks, experienced ruined credit, and been made to suffer at the hands of the Department of Education’s punitive collection system, which seizes their wages, Social Security Benefits, and Earned Income Tax Credits in retaliation for these borrowers defaulting on their federal loans. While the relief the White House announced is critically needed for people living in or close to poverty, it is not a long-term solution to a crisis decades in the making. The Department now has an opportunity to fix the broken student loan default and collection system.
Watch SBPC’s three-part panel series about what a fresh start to student debt collection really means—featuring leading scholars, practitioners, and advocates, moderated by top journalists—below!
Part 1: Addressing the Flaws of the Current Student Loan Collection System
Watch panel recording here or below.
Moderated by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post
Featuring remarks from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
With a panel discussion between:
- Deanne Loonin
- Josh Rovenger of Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
- Amber Saddler of the Student Borrower Protection Center, and
- Abby Shafroth of the National Consumer Law Center
Part 2: Solutions to Address Student Loan Default and Collections
Watch panel recording here or below.
Moderated by Aarthi Swaminathan, Marketwatch
Featuring remarks from U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal
With a panel discussion between:
- Kate Lang of Justice in Aging
- Claire Torchiana of the Student Borrower Protection Center
- Johnson Tyler of Brooklyn Legal Services, and
- Persis Yu of the Student Borrower Protection Center
Part 3: The Role of States in Reforming Our Broken Student Loan Collection System
Watch panel recording here or below.
Moderated by Meredith Kolodner, The Hechinger Report
Featuring remarks from Senior Deputy Commissioner Suzanne Martindale, California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation
With a panel discussion between:
- Martha Fulford of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office
- Claire Johnson Raba of the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
- Jith Meganathan of the California Assembly Judiciary Committee, and
- Kat Welbeck of the Student Borrower Protection Center
Beyond Fresh Start Paper Series
In conjunction with the panels, SBPC released a compendium of new scholarship on the harms of the current debt collection system, existing legal authority for administrative fixes, ideas for reform, and the role of states.
See the related paper series here.
