Dive Summary:
- Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jack Reed (D-Ill.) introduced the Fairness For Struggling Students Act last week, which aims to reverse a 2005 change in bankruptcy laws preventing student loan debt from being dischargeable.
- Student loan debt tops $1 trillion nationally and is the only consumer debt not eligible for bankruptcy, and while federal loans haven't been dischargeable since 1978, private student loans weren't included until 2005.
- Organizations supporting the bill include The American Association of University Women, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. Education Department and even Sallie Mae, one of the country's biggest private student loan payers.
From the article:
Three U.S. Senators unveiled legislation Wednesday to reverse a 2005 change in bankruptcy laws that makes it nearly impossible to have private student loan debt discharged. ...