This book traces how the student loan system has created insurmountable student debt traps for millions of student borrowers contrary to its original purpose of promoting social mobility. Today, approximately 45 million Americans hold over $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, with over 20% of borrowers in default. Student loan debt has the greatest negative impact of wealth-poor students, with Black and first-generation students less likely to attain a college degree, more likely to default on student loan debt, and less likely to gain the same type of wage premium from their college degrees than white student loan borrowers. The book also offers a wide range of policy solutions for remedying the student loan debt crisis.

Robert Haywood Scott, III is the Greenbaum/Ferguson/NJAR endowed chair in real estate policy and Professor in the Department of Economics, Finance& Real Estate at Monmouth University. His two previous books Kenneth Boulding: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (2015) and Pesos or Plastic? Financial Inclusion, Taxation, and Development in South America with Kenneth Mitchell (2019) were both published with Palgrave. 

Joseph N. Patten is Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University, where he teaches courses in American politics and public policy.  He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from West Virginia University. The fourth edition of his co-authored textbook titled Why Politics Matters: An Introduction to Political Science is scheduled to be published in April of 2024. 

Kenneth Mitchell is Professor of PoliticalScience at Monmouth University. He earned his PhD in Politics from Oxford University. His publications include Pesos or Plastic? (2019), State-Society Relations in Mexico (2001) and peer-reviewed articles appearing in the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Monthly Review, Challenge, Bulletin of Latin American Research, The Latin Americanist and the Journal of Oxford Development Studies.

Introduction.- Chapter 1: The Bait The History of American Colleges and the Creation of Student Loans.- Chapter 2: The Switch Higher Education as a Public Goods Decays (1965-1992).- Chapter 3: The Income and Wealth Effects of Student Loan Debt.- Chapter 4: Recent Changes to Student Loan Policy and Future Recommendations.- Conclusion.