“Private Loans Deepen a Crisis in Student Debt,” cried the Times headline that began by presenting the situation of Lucia DiPoi, “the first in her immigrant family to attend college.”
The Times complained that DiPoi “gave up her dream” of working in an overseas refugee camp as a result of too much debt, and now has private loans with high interest rates. But the blame was thrown squarely at the lender: Sallie Mae in this instance.
Nowhere did the Times question DiPoi’s decision to attend Tufts University, a private school where the tuition, fees, room and board come to $44,500 per year. That’s nearly three and a half times the average cost of a public college or university, according to the College Board.
Other reports also presented students or graduates struggling to pay off huge amounts of debt without mentioning personal responsibility – even saying one student had “little choice” but to go deeper in debt.
“Take Jen McGowan, a 30-year-old Los Angeles filmmaker. She had little choice, she says, but to pack on private loans after maxing out on federal aid. McGowan owes about $275,000, having borrowed to pay for much of her undergraduate years at New York University and graduate school at the University of Southern California,” wrote USA Today on May 29.
Journalists often used generalized statements, tarring all lenders and colleges in the process.
On May 20, the Times said Cuomo discovered “that colleges had been receiving payments from lenders that were seeking business from students, and that financial aid administrators had accepted trips from the lenders.”
Another story in the May 16 USA Today said Congress is “alarmed that lenders have been increasingly profiting as students fall deeper in debt.”
The reporting on Cuomo’s investigation made wrongdoing on the part of a few lenders and college administrators seem commonplace – by leaving out crucial details.
There are 6,000 colleges and universities and roughly 2,000 to 3,000 lenders in the U.S., according to Kevin Bruns of industry group America’s Student Loan Providers (ASLP).
“The incidents we’re talking about are a small fraction of schools and lenders. But this is being painted with such a broad brush,” said Bruns. “That’s bad for the industry and for the students who have to make decisions about whether to go to college or not.”
The Times complained that DiPoi “gave up her dream” of working in an overseas refugee camp as a result of too much debt, and now has private loans with high interest rates. But the blame was thrown squarely at the lender: Sallie Mae in this instance.
Nowhere did the Times question DiPoi’s decision to attend Tufts University, a private school where the tuition, fees, room and board come to $44,500 per year. That’s nearly three and a half times the average cost of a public college or university, according to the College Board.
Other reports also presented students or graduates struggling to pay off huge amounts of debt without mentioning personal responsibility – even saying one student had “little choice” but to go deeper in debt.
“Take Jen McGowan, a 30-year-old Los Angeles filmmaker. She had little choice, she says, but to pack on private loans after maxing out on federal aid. McGowan owes about $275,000, having borrowed to pay for much of her undergraduate years at New York University and graduate school at the University of Southern California,” wrote USA Today on May 29.
Journalists often used generalized statements, tarring all lenders and colleges in the process.
On May 20, the Times said Cuomo discovered “that colleges had been receiving payments from lenders that were seeking business from students, and that financial aid administrators had accepted trips from the lenders.”
Another story in the May 16 USA Today said Congress is “alarmed that lenders have been increasingly profiting as students fall deeper in debt.”
The reporting on Cuomo’s investigation made wrongdoing on the part of a few lenders and college administrators seem commonplace – by leaving out crucial details.
There are 6,000 colleges and universities and roughly 2,000 to 3,000 lenders in the U.S., according to Kevin Bruns of industry group America’s Student Loan Providers (ASLP).
“The incidents we’re talking about are a small fraction of schools and lenders. But this is being painted with such a broad brush,” said Bruns. “That’s bad for the industry and for the students who have to make decisions about whether to go to college or not.”
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