College tuition and student debt levels have been rising at an alarming pace for at least two decades. These trends, coupled with an economy weakened by a major recession, have raised serious questions about whether we are headed for a major crisis, with borrowers defaulting on their loans in unprecedented numbers and taxpayers being forced to foot the bill. Game of Loans draws on new evidence to explain why such fears are misplaced–and how the popular myth of a looming crisis has obscured the real problems facing student lending in America.

Bringing needed clarity to an issue that concerns all of us, Beth Akers and Matthew Chingos cut through the sensationalism and misleading rhetoric to make the compelling case that college remains a good investment for most students. They show how, in fact, typical borrowers face affordable debt burdens, and argue that the truly serious cases of financial hardship portrayed in the media are less common than the popular narrative would have us believe. But there are more troubling problems with student loans that don’t receive the same attention. They include high rates of avoidable defaults by students who take on loans but don’t finish college–the riskiest segment of borrowers–and a dysfunctional market where competition among colleges drives tuition costs up instead of down.

Persuasive and compelling, Game of Loans moves beyond the emotionally charged and politicized talk surrounding student debt, and offers a set of sensible policy proposals that can solve the real problems in student lending.

Higher education should not be a business from which many profit while millions go into a lifetime of debt! American higher education is at the point of colossal failure. Thanks to the creation of “Higher Ed Inc.,” we now live in a dysfunctional country with millions of Americans struggling to pay or completely unable to pay their student loan debts. Millions of new students going to college will end up equally in debt, saddled with loans and unable to join the middle class and enjoy the American dream. The student loan debt crisis is no longer a matter that each student or family can solve on their own. We need everyone to put our voices together to push aggressively for change. Read this book and join us if you are among the millions of current student loan debtors, future students and parents about to take out loans, or policymakers and politicians who want to help fix our broken system of higher education.

“Easy to read and hard to put down! Interesting and informative!” Get someone else to pay for your education. Landlord Away Your Student Loan Debt chronicles the path I took which made every student loan payment for me and put a few bucks in my pocket to boot. My strategy was simple: Pay off student loan debt with real estate. I have never made a student loan payment with my own money. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any gimmicky system to sell you. If you read this book, you will be equipped to start your journey toward financial freedom. You will be given advice, Internet search criteria, and suggested readings throughout this text. You will also be able to experience several pitfalls that plagued me while I established myself in the landlord business. I neutralized over $200,000.00 of student loan debt without using any of my own money! I turned paying my student loans into a game and I smile every month when the money is drafted out of an account that I didn’t fund (my tenants funded it for me). This book features lots of advice from a seasoned landlord, web searches for useful information, a primer on student loan repayment, and a great story. A lot of effort has gone into making this book an “easy read.” I purposefully left out as much business, landlording, and real estate jargon as possible. The approach taken assumes that the reader is not a seasoned landlord, or an expert regarding student loans.

Is it still worth it for low-income students to attend college, given the debt incurred? This book provides a new framework for evaluating the financial aid system in America, positing that aid must not only allow access to higher education, but also help students succeed in college and facilitate their financial health post-college.

• Reveals the inadequacy of the scope of the current educational and economic policy debates, including moves to funnel low-income children toward two-year degrees, structure alternative debt repayment schedules, and constrain increases in college tuition

• Answers the question: “Does the student who goes to college and graduates but has outstanding student debt achieve similar financial outcomes to the student who graduates from college without student debt?”

• Examines an important subject of interest to educators, students, and general readers that is related to the larger topics of education, economics, social problems, social policy, public policy, debt, and asset building

• Provides empirical evidence and theoretical support for a fundamental shift in U.S. financial aid policy, from debt dependence to asset empowerment, including an explanation of how institutional facilitation makes Children’s Savings Accounts potentially potent levers for children’s educational attainment and economic well-being, before, during, and after college

A clear presentation of simple and innovative ways to graduate college debt-free with a Bachelors, Masters, and even a PhD degree.

The papers included in this volume represent the most current research and knowledge available about student loans and repayment. It serves as a valuable reference for researchers and policymakers who seek a deeper understanding of how, why, and which students borrow for their postsecondary education; how this borrowing may affect later decisions; and what measures can help borrowers repay their loans successfully.

Every student wants Extra Credit! Extra Credit is not just another boring finance book. You’ll learn: • The top 10 ways credit card companies trick you. • When to use debit cards and when to use cash. • What is a credit score? • How to choose the right student loan. • The keys to succeed in college. • And much more…

Product Features

• Used Book in Good Condition

In 2013, student loan debt in the US passed $1 trillion. That’s more than our total amount of credit card debt and automobile debt. Graduates are starting out with poor employment prospects, obscene levels of debt, and few tools to help. Adam S. Minsky is a leading expert in student loan debt. He is renowned as a pioneer in student loan law as the founder of one of the first law firms in the country devoted entirely to helping student borrowers. With few resources available for student borrowers navigating byzantine repayment systems, he wrote this book as a practical, easy-to-read guide for managing your student debt. Whether your loans are federal or private, in good standing or in default, this guide identifies your options and helps you determine the best way forward.

With updated information that reflects the myriad changes in the student loan industry that affect students and their parents burdened with student loan debt, CliffsNotes Graduation Debt, Second Edition provides a step-by-step road map for effectively managing student loan debt and having a successful financial life.

Reyna Gobel has accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, recovered from student loan default, and set herself on a mission to help others who face a seemingly insurmountable student loan burden, with a powerful message about taking a step-by-step approach and not being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of student loan debt.

Divided into small subsections geared toward those neck-deep in debt, this book is easily digestible to students who aren’t inclined to focus on their finances. Readers are encouraged to take action steps, such as finding long-lost student loans that may have gone into default, discovering payment plans they can afford, consolidating loans when it makes sense to do so, saving money on eating out and groceries, improving credit scores, tweaking their debt-to-income ratios so they can buy a home, and discussing their student loan and non-student loan debt with their significant others.

By the end of the book, readers will be on the road to financial stability, with extra money for vacations and other fun stuff, too.

Laura Newland’s generation has worked the hardest to gain admission to elite colleges and paid the most to attend. But when Newland left her Alabama hometown and arrived at Duke University, she found a liberal arts campus unlike anything depicted in those glossy guidebooks. The hypercompetitive battle for internships begins freshman year, and the economic pressures–student loans, the daunting cost of graduate degrees, high unemployment–are relentless. This perfect storm, brewing on campuses across the country, has fueled a Wall Street recruiting machine that is winning over the best and the brightest. In no time, Newland was seduced.

From Newland’s turbulent four years comes a provocative story of the higher education industry; the tension between ambition and indebtedness, privilege and purpose; and one student’s journey to make sense of it all.