Urgent: Tell the Commission to address loan repayment policies in final report The Department of Education has responded officially to our May 4 petition to fix the broken rules for paying off student loans. They are taking no action on the issue at the moment, but the game is far from over! The Department said it’s looking to the Secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education for guidance on whether or when to act on our proposal. The Commission meets this Wednesday for one of the last times before finalizing their recommendations, which are due in mid-September. Urge them to tell the Secretary that with interest rates rising, the need for clearer and more flexible repayment options is too urgent to be left on hold. *Write to the Commission before Wednesday June 28!* Also: read the Department’s letter and the petitioners’ response High Hopes, Big Debts A new analysis finds that the number of college graduates with high levels of student debt has skyrocketed since the early nineties, even after accounting for inflation. In 1993, 1.3 percent of graduating seniors with student loans owed $40,000 or more (in 2004 dollars). In 2004, 7.7 percent owed more than $40,000. That’s a 10-fold jump from approximately 7,000 to 77,550 new graduates with high debt. Twice the national average debt burden, $40,000 is more than most people can manage to repay in 10 years. Read more. “No Way Out” -- New report on student loans from the National Consumer Law Center “No Way Out: Student Loans, Financial Distress, and the Need for Policy Reform,” sheds new light on how temporary financial setbacks can lead to long-term debt and default for student loan borrowers. NCLC examines student loan provisions in bankruptcy laws and other policies, and suggests reforms to encourage repayment and reduce defaults. Read the report. (This announcement was sent to the Project on Student Debt mailing list on June 26, 2006.)