Support Student Borrowers’ Rights

Federal Student Loan Consumers Are Entitled to Comprehensive Debt Management

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Help with Managing Student Loan Debt: Every Student’s Right

Students of today and tomorrow need support in managing the debt that we, as a nation, have pointed them toward, because of federal public policy that grants access to higher education primarily through loans and not grants. With growing student loan debt burdens and a dwindling job market, all students need unbiased, practical and knowledgeable debt management and financial literacy counseling.

We believe that every federal student loan borrower deserves a neutral advocate on his side to help navigate student loan options from application to repayment—someone who can provide advice on solutions in the borrower’s best interest both in the short-term and over the long haul, and before payment problems set in. Case in point: Estimates show as many as 1 million student loan borrowers could be eligible for Income-Based Repayment—but less than 20,000 have taken advantage of the program as of Fall 2009. It’s not that federal student loan borrowers don’t have options; sadly, it’s that so many simply don’t know that options exist.

The students of today will be handling education debt repayment for many tomorrows to come. If students have the right to access college via debt, then don’t they have an equal right to receive help managing that debt? We think so.

We all want students to succeed, but could more be done to ensure they do?