News about student debt

Former bankruptcy judge Sarah Sharer Curley, who presided over cases for nearly three decades, recounts in her new book a 73-year-old woman who in 2012 had a student loan balance of more than $584,000 dating back to the 1970s. She says strict bankruptcy laws make discharging student loans nearly impossible; in this case, the federal government would not agree to any settlement, so she could only credit seven years of public service, reducing the remaining repayment to three years. Curley argues the Education Department was gutted in 2025, leaving few if any staff who could approve debt modifications, which makes settlements harder to reach. Citing the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, she notes more than half a million personal bankruptcy cases were filed in 2025, an almost 50% rise from three years earlier. She stresses that many filers are not unemployed but live paycheck to paycheck, with job loss, chronic illness and rising medical or education costs among common causes.