Page 6 - Alan Collinge News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

I googled it in the middle of the night. every opinion column, every quote in a news story, all came down to the same one expert, alan collinge-- one of the nation's foremost experts on student debt. this guy was everywhere... except an easy-to-visit location. [light music] ♪ alan? - hey, man, watch your step. - yes. what is this, an ice storm? - pretty much. welcome to wisconsin. north woods. - thank you very much. - i hope you like cats. - uh... - they're friendly. - oh, yeah, i can smell them. - you know, i sprayed lysol, but i don't think it worked. - so you've basically devoted your lif...

A journey. - after accruing hundreds of thousands in student debt, alan became obsessed with the issue. and before it was on the media's radar, he made raising awareness of it his life's work. but it turns out, trying to change an entire financial system can be a lonely fight. this is your family? - this is my family. yep. - were they aware of the work you were doing? your parents? - yeah. i like to think my parents instilled in me the spirit of the happy warrior. it helps me keep my chin up during some of the low times during this battle. - what would you say to this kid as you look at this y...

We have good jobs and so many advantages in life. - get some scholarships, kid. - but what about the 45 million other americans with student debt? the news coverage was not encouraging. - student loan debt in this country is now bigger than credit card debt. - and what does it do? it not only hurts these students. that's our number one concern. it kills the whole economy. - they're delaying having kids. they're delaying getting married. they're delaying buying houses. - i think it's a crisis right now for families and student borrowers. - it wasn't just the borrowers. economists and pundits ac...

One of the nation's foremost experts on student debt. this guy was everywhere... except an easy-to-visit location. [light music] ♪ alan? - hey, man, watch your step. - yes. what is this, an ice storm? - pretty much. welcome to wisconsin. north woods. - thank you very much. - i hope you like cats. - uh... - they're friendly. - oh, yeah, i can smell them. - you know, i sprayed lysol, but i don't think it worked. - so you've basically devoted your life to this problem. - i'm very sorry to say that appears to be how it turned out. it's become a 17-year ordeal, a journey. - after accruing hundred...

The lenders pull out all the stops against our best and brightest for the crime of going to college. this lending system has now catastrophically failed. it's galactically failed by all rational metrics and measures. we now owe close to $2 trillion in federal student loan debt. and you know, it seems like nobody's really even paying any attention to it, so... - whoa. there was definitely a story here. but was alan right about its magnitude and that no one was doing anything about it? - we're just gonna have to clear this whole area out, both tires. - it all seemed so outrageous. - glad you sho...