In an effort to stem perceived abuses of the bankruptcy system, Congress adopted a rule in 1976 that created a time-based conditional limitation on the discharge of federally guaranteed student loans in bankruptcy. The only means of overcoming the limitation was the showing of an “undue...

Since 1976, Congress has progressively amended the bankruptcy laws to treat some types of student loans differently from other unsecured debt. In 2005, student loans originated by private companies — loans granted only to credit-worthy individuals and risk-priced at origination — were added...

Bankruptcy reform in 2005 restricted debtors' ability to discharge private student loan debt. The reform was motivated by the perceived incentive of some borrowers to file bankruptcy under Chapter 7 even if they had, or expected to have, sufficient income to service their debt. Using a national...

A debtor seeking to discharge student loans in bankruptcy must prove that paying the debt would cause an undue hardship upon him and his dependents. Undue hardship, however, is an undefined concept, flummoxing debtors, creditors and judges alike. The result of this ambiguity is rampant...

A generation of Americans has borrowed heavily for their education, and hundreds of thousands of them are deeply in debt. Some 37 million Americans owe a total of approximately $1 trillion dollars in student loans. They constitute an Indentured Generation as many of them will be paying student...

Education loan debt in the U.S. recently reached $1.2 trillion. Thirty-nine million Americans -- nearly 20% of U.S. households -- owe student loans, and student loans are by far the fastest growing component of non-housing consumer debt. For example, in fourth quarter 2013, U.S. households...

Each year, a quarter of a million student loan debtors file for bankruptcy. Of those, fewer than three hundred discharge their educational debt. That is a success rate of just 0.1 percent. This chasm between success and failure is the titular Student Loan Bankruptcy Gap, and it is a phenomenon...