Default Lines

Two shcoking stories related to the student loan crisis in tomorrow's NYT. One looks at the largely unexamined underbelly of the growth of loan collectors, paid by the U.S.--$1.4 billion last year--to shake down the defaulters (one in six of all student loans).  One of the collectors is literally "smacking" his lips.  The second story looks at the overall picture and numbers.  "Long-range projections by the Department of Education estimate that the default rate over 20 years, for borrowers who began repayment in 2009, is 17 percent; among students who attended profit-making colleges, the predicted default rate is 49 percent."