tt provides that studen loan deck is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. think of status provided for in the constitution. it is one of the elemental -- bankruptcy is provided for in the constitution. it is one of the elemental parts of the constitution. yet the ability to fail and do it again. virtually every type of debt is dischargeable except student loan debt. is there an economic justification for bankruptcy debt being treated differently than any kind of debt? nature ofore in the an unexpected blessing to the then largely violently held student loan industry? >> pursuant to a report that was required by congress to publish, data related to student loan originations, particularly private student loans throughout the past 15 years or so. the 2005 change in the bankruptcy code, one would anticipate an ordinary marketplace that prices would come down as bankruptcy codes become more strict. in fact, we saw that prices actually went up and this suggests that broader capital may beconditions, ma larger than teachers to pricing the markets and it suggests t

department of education will make about $112 billion in federal direct loans to studen students. the federal government already holds more than $1 trillion in student loan debt. so that makes the u.s. department of education one of the country's largest lenders. total student loan debt in the united states is now second only to mortgage debt and about 90% of all student loans happen to be issued by the federal government. so when elected officials say that we have a student loan crisis because too many students owe more than they can afford to repay, we have to keep in mind who it was and is that made those loans to students in the first place. it was, in fact, uncle sam. what is one of the first things that a federal regulator looks at when a private bank issues a loan? they look at whether the bank has confirmed the ability of the borrower to repay. federal student loans are given out without a credit check or any analysis of the student's ability to repay the loans in the first place. the fastest growing category of student loans is federal unsubsidized student loans which are