cover image Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt

Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt

Elizabeth Tandy Shermer. Belknap, $29.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-674-25148-9

The roots of the student debt crisis are explored in this comprehensive study by Loyola University history professor Shermer (Sunbelt Capitalism). She traces the history of college tuition financing from the 1862 passage of the Land-Grant College Act, which provided federal funding for at least one college in every state, through debates over the GI Bill, which offered free college tuition to veterans returning from WWII. The Johnson administration’s Higher Education Act of 1965 introduced federal guarantees for student loans bankrolled by private lenders, which were initially required to be paid back in 10 years, but neoliberal policies in the decades that followed slashed federal funding for higher education, resulting in tuition hikes and, in turn, more and more expensive student loans. Shermer astutely analyzes the myriad forces, including political pressure to protect states’ rights, professors’ concerns about government interference, and the rise of for-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix, that have contributed to the state of affairs as of 2020, when 45 million Americans owed a collective $1.6 trillion in student debt, and argues that some form of free college is necessary to solve the problem. Though dense and scholarly, this well-researched history provides crucial context for understanding a thorny social problem. (Aug.)