The Debt Trap

How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe

By: Josh Mitchell

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

AN NPR AND NEW YORK POST BEST BOOK OF 2021

From acclaimed Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell, the “devastating account” (The Wall Street Journal) of student debt in America.

In 1981, a new executive at Sallie Mae took home the company’s financial documents to review. “You’ve got to be shitting me,” he later told the company’s CEO. “This place is a gold mine.”

Over the next four decades, the student loan industry that Sallie Mae and Congress created blew up into a crisis that would submerge a generation of Americans in $1.5 trillion in student debt. In The Debt Trap, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell tells the “vivid and compelling” (Chicago Tribune) untold story of the scandals, scams, predatory actors, and government malpractice that have created the behemoth that one of its original architects called a “monster.”

As he charts the “jaw-dropping” (Jeffrey Selingo, New York Times bestselling author of Who Gets in and Why) seventy-year history of student debt in America, Mitchell never loses sight of the countless student victims ensnared by an exploitative system that depends on their debt. Mitchell also draws alarming parallels to the housing crisis in the late 2000s, showing the catastrophic consequences student debt has had on families and the nation’s future. Mitchell’s character-driven narrative is “necessary reading” (The New York Times) for anyone wanting to understand the central economic issue of our day.

©2021 Josh Mitchell. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Unbiased and well researched

The writer takes a historical fact driven approach while also using case studies to prove how historical policies and free market have allowed runaway price hikes and a spiraling debt disaster. I’ve dealt with a spouses Sallie Mae loan in the early 2000’s and related to some of the stories. When I borrowed myself, I steered clear of Sallie Mae. However, government loans prove no better for me. This book has unbiased historical timeline of student loan policies having impact on rising college costs that are out of control. It makes me feel that student loan debt will eventually impoverish society as a whole if the system remains unchecked and unregulated.

The history of education debt

All this talk nowadays about education debt but how did we get here? This book covers the need of higher education and the policies that got us here and how we might solve the problem. I don’t believe in just forgiveness and that didn’t change after listening to this book but it does help me make a more informed decision and other options available.

An Excellent History of Student Debt

Student debt is one of the most contentious topics in today's political debates. People on one side of the issue want to eliminate much or all student debt because they believe that students were essentially hoodwinked into taking out loans with promises of higher future income that often didn't materialize. People on the other side argue for personal responsibility, noting that many people make bad financial decisions (homes that lose value, cars that don't last beyond payments, investing in a business that fails) and proposing that all debtors assume responsibility for their obligations.

This book provides some excellent perspective. It delivers a history of government involvement in (whether regulating, encouraging, or underwriting) student loans for post-secondary education. It documents the cozy relationship between the federal government and campus financial-aid offices in encouraging students and their families to borrow more and more to attend the school of the students' choice. It explains how the Obama Administration encourage everyone collecting unemployment benefits during the 2008-09 recession to borrow money to go back to school to learn new vocational and professional skills.

Do you want to be armed with the historical facts to understand and participate in the debate over whether to discharge student debt? (Note: I don't use the term "forgive" because that implies that the party to whom money is owed is willing to take the hit for non-payment, whereas in this situation the taxpayers, not the politicians, will pay the bill.) If so, you'll have a hard time understanding and contributing if you don't grasp the information in this book.

Great great great

As a person who pay on student loans over a period of years, now I am aware the problem is not me but the greediness of universities and government. Shame on the people we are supposed to trust.

Relevant and to the point

Good to see the whole story. Bankers and big whigs got paid billions to snowball the size of the tuitions and loans into grotesque colossus situations. All of this is many times over in excess of what even the most responsible and tight budgeted people could possibly ever pay in a lifetime.

A must read for all future college students and parents

I had no idea how systemic and complex the college debt is in this country. It’s alarming and concerning what awaits us if this isn’t corrected immediately. I learned a great deal from this well researched and outlined book. I will be recommending this book.

stay out a debt at all costs

read this before taking student loans. share it with people considering it. Definitely a good read.

I had no idea!

Having graduated in 1989 with a small loan balance, I was fortunate to pay no more than $81 a month for 10 years to repay my student loans. I never understood what the issue was with the student debt crisis until a coworker who graduated in 2017 explained how debt was impacting her life. I began to ask other individuals of various ages if they still had debt. I was quite surprised at the number of people over 50 years old who had very large balances remaining because they were barely covering their interest payments. I sought out more information and found this wonderfully informative book. I was fascinated and consumed it within two days. The narrator was well-suited for communicating non-fiction information. The book read like a novel, with no dry spells boring the audience with lists of facts and figures that put you to sleep. Highly recommend this book if you know nothing of the realities of the school debt situation.

Enlightening and discouraging

A really informative read - highly encourage people to listen. There are times when it can get a bit repetitive with the stories of individual borrowers, but that does provide a human element to this massively corrupt system.

No matter your political orientation, this book should solidify 3 thoughts.

1. Colleges need more responsibility and “skin in the game” to charge students exorbitant tuition. No student loan forgiveness will stop this from happening again
2. Privatizing profits and socializing losses is NOT how a free market should work.
3. We have failed the American people and those 35 and under. This entire system needs reform and change

Not a bad read….

Interesting back story of how the modern student loans came to be but I didn’t learn as much as I expected. And frankly would have liked to learn more about the back room dealing and less about the mundane anecdotes the author spends excessive time on. Expected to learn about how the student loan industry benefited from LIBOR manipulation but it’s not even mentioned. Author also leaves out any mention of the heavy hand Joe Biden played in creating the mess. Still a worthwhile read if you have a particular interest in the subject. If not, skip it.