Social Security Garnishments
Higher education costs have outstripped inflation for the last 30 years.
Since 1980, the cost of college and university tuition, not including business or technical schools, has risen by an average of 7.5 percent a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the same time, inflation was just 3.3 percent a year, on average.
Total average tuition and room and board rates charged for full-time undergraduate students in degree-granting institutions in the 1980-81 school year stood at $7,341 in today’s dollars. By 2009-10, that had ballooned to $17,633, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Bankruptcy filings blotted out student loans before 1976. But after the 1970s, discharging student loans was only allowed under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in certain cases and the conditions have narrowed ever since.
Delinquent borrowers have faced additional tougher measures. In 2006, the amount of pay a creditor could garnishee rose from 10 percent to 15 percent.
The Department of Education in 2001 began to use 15 percent of Social Security disability and retirement benefits to offset unpaid student loan debt.
Lee Ann Torrans noted struggling debtors can find help through the Income-Based Repayment plan, which limits payments and forgives some debt after a certain number of years but this route will adversely impact your credit.