Burdened, Ryann Liebenthal
Burdened, Ryann Liebenthal
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Burdened
Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis

Author: Ryann Liebenthal

Narrator: Eileen Stevens

Unabridged: 10 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 09/10/2024


Synopsis

*ONE OF THE NEW YORKERS BEST BOOKS OF 2024*“A powerful argument for reforming this system.”—The New York TimesAn urgent investigation of student debt in America revealing the corrupt systems, rotten policies, and bad actors that have created a $1.7 trillion crisis.College costs more today than ever and is worth less. Tuition at public colleges has more than tripled in the past 50 years. Over the same period student debt has grown from virtually nothing to more than $1.7 trillion, second only to home mortgages.Skyrocketing student-loan burdens are leading an entire generation to put off the traditional milestones of adulthood: buying homes, getting married, starting families, and saving for retirement. The burden weighs heavier on women and black Americans, and with almost 10 percent of student debtors now over the age of 60, it is a crisis no longer limited to the young.Ryann Liebenthal’s Burdened tells the maddening story of how the power plays of legislators and presidents, the commodification of higher ed, and the rapacious practices of for-profit colleges and private lenders have created today’s student-debt lava pit.As the notion of student-loan cancellation percolates into the political mainstream, Liebenthal offers a deeply researched, sweeping narrative of our broken system. Rather than give in to despair, she boldly charts a way out, offering hopeful solutions to this seemingly unfixable problem.

About Ryann Liebenthal

Ryann Liebenthal is a writer and editor living in Oakland, California, who has reported extensively on the student loan crisis. She has written for Mother Jones, n + 1, and the New Republic.


Reviews

Unpacking the Roots of the Student Debt Crisis In this critical examination of the history of the student debt crisis, Ryann Liebenthal provides a needed perspective on the systemic factors that fueled the exponential increase in financial burdens for American students. Highlighting the policy misste......more

Goodreads review by Evan on February 10, 2025

An incredibly sobering, upsetting read. I’m far from a neutral observer, but it really is worth exploring the underlying inequities of this country’s higher education system. It does not have to be this way. It should not be this way.......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on January 21, 2025

This book showed how little I know about student debt - a scary ordeal considering I'm in the beginning of paying debt off after graduating months ago. At the start, Liebenthal goes through the history of student loans in America from the GI Bill to Biden Administration's recent SAVE Bill. Liebentha......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on February 06, 2025

Book #1 of Kevin’s paternity challenge (was going to be 20 but I’m going to crusade past that at the current rate) Found this through the New Yorker. Good examination of how America developed such an unwieldy and onerous system of student loans. Great exploration of how awful the for-profit schools (......more

Goodreads review by Madison on October 14, 2024

This book epitomizes the idea that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. It provides an incredibly well researched history of student debt, and unfortunately shows how much of yesterday's conversations have bled into today. While progress is being made and there is hope to some degre......more