Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis

“A powerful argument for reforming this system.”—The New York Times

An urgent investigation of student debt in America, this deeply researched book on higher education reveals the corrupt systems, rotten policies, and bad actors that have created a $1.7 trillion crisis.

College costs more today than ever and is worth less. Tuition at public colleges has more than tripled in the past 50 years, while the system of financial aid has failed to keep up. Over the same period student debt has grown from virtually nothing to more than $1.7 trillion, second only to home mortgages.

Skyrocketing student-loan burdens are leading an entire generation to put off the traditional milestones of adulthood: buying homes, getting married, starting families, and saving for retirement. The burden weighs heavier on women and black Americans, and with almost 10 percent of student debtors now over the age of 60, it is a crisis no longer limited to the young.

Ryann Liebenthal’s Burdened tells the maddening student loan history of how the power plays of legislators and presidents, the commodification of higher ed, and the rapacious practices of for-profit colleges and private lenders have created today’s student-debt lava pit.

As the notion of student-loan cancellation percolates into the political mainstream, Liebenthal offers a deeply researched, sweeping narrative of our broken system of economic policy. Rather than give in to despair, she boldly charts a way out, offering hopeful solutions to this seemingly unfixable problem.

Liebenthal’s urgent investigation charts a path from the GI Bill to the current crisis, revealing:

• A Troubling Political History: Discover how decades of backroom deals, legislative compromises, and presidential power plays built the student debt machine, from the GI Bill’s unintended consequences to today’s partisan gridlock.
• The Financialization of Education: Uncover the rapacious practices of private lenders, for-profit schools, and financial giants like Sallie Mae that commodified higher learning and created a system built for profit, not people.
• An Unequal Burden: Examine the deeply researched data showing why the $1.7 trillion crisis weighs heaviest on women and Black Americans, deepening systemic inequality.
• A Path Forward: Beyond the maddening story of our broken system, find bold, hopeful solutions to a crisis that has left an entire generation behind.