The Student Loan Bubble

There was the dot com bubble, the housing bubble, now the student loan bubble. Student loan debt has grown dramatically in the recent past. In 2010 student loan debt exceeded credit card debt. In 2011 it surpassed auto loans. There is now more than one trillion dollars in student debt according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Unfortunately, the bankruptcy code does not offer any relief from student loan debt. Some organizations are pushing for new legislation that would offer student loan debtors relief under the bankruptcy code. The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys is one of these organizations. NACBA supports efforts in Washington DC to get legislation in front of Congress that would offer a solution. NACBA has also reached out to local associations and asked for their help. Recently NACBA sent a representative to meet with the Tucson Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. One point of the meeting was to see if the Tucson attorneys had any examples of “student loan tragedy” which could be included in the lobbying efforts in Washington DC. Its going to take grass roots efforts like this to make a difference in Washington. Hopefully the law will be changed before the student loan bubble pops.