Student debt oppressive

Having modest finances, the student loan program provides many of us with a means to access accredited postsecondary education.

It’s an investment of time, effort and treasure, a gamble for job competition and a hedge against untimely death or serious injury for a GI benefit.

As a volunteer emeritus attorney for the Spokane County Bar Association, nondischargeable student loans of some credit card bankrupts, recently reminded me of a crisis in taxpayer educational funds waste.

Similar to how liar and no-doc loans wrecked gullible homeowners’ social mobility, liquidity and mortgage wealth, we now may have Education, Inc.’s debtor’s prisons for life.

These aren’t nonprofits or community colleges (10 percent of all student loans go to for-profits, which result in over 43 percent of total defaults), making Wall Street-type profits.

This looming default crisis is reminiscent of the subprime mortgage debacle. Outstanding college student loans equal our $750 billion credit card debt.

Without the assured gainful employment litmus test for nondefault: jobless or underemployed for-profit past students are now facing as much as a 50 percent default rate.

Please comment to our Department of Education.

Duane Schofield

Cusick, Wash.