PBS高端访谈:新生将会通过贷款来削减债务

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS ANCHOR: Student debt is something millions of Americans live with for years — even decades after they graduate college. Now, two of the nation's largest private student lenders are rolling out options that will allow borrowers to modify the terms on their loans.

　　For more about the significance of this, we're joined now by Marian Wang, a reporter with ProPublica and by AnnaMaria Andriotis. She is with the Wall Street Journal.

　　So AnnaMaria, let me start with you. Explain the change. What kinds of modifications² are we talking about? Who does this apply to?

　　ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: So we're talking about declines in the interest rates that student loan borrowers are paying. And this announcement came out of Wells Fargo this past week. Wells Fargo is the second largest private student lender, and what they have decided³ to start doing is to lower the monthly payment by essentially⁴ lowering the interest rate to as low as one percent for borrowers.

　　That's significant because actually many borrowers have private student loans with interest rates that are 10 percent or higher than that. So what they're starting to see is significant declines in what they're paying monthly.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And banks didn't want to do this. Why did they go forward with this?

　　ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS: This is a significant turnaround, and there's a lot of discussion as to what has led to it. What we know is that over the past couple of years the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been applying a lot of pressure on private lenders, basically telling them that they need to start offering repayment⁵ options similar to what the federal government offers on its loans. The federal government offers a lot of flexibility⁶ for borrowers, in particular those who don't have high salaries.

　　So there's been a lot of back and forth⁷ between the CFPB and private lenders. In addition, from the private lender side, what we have started hearing is that there have been a lot of internal discussions at banks about how do we increase loan revenue going forward? If we alienate⁸ student borrowers — people who are right now in their 20s and early 30s — down the road when it comes time for them to get a mortgage or when they're looking to establish some type of banking⁹ relationship, we might not get those borrowers. They might go somewhere else.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Right, right, right. So Marian, put this population in perspective for us. Because as she mentioned, the federal loans have already been doing some of this in the past. And how much can an average kind of borrower save if they qualify for this modification¹, do you think?

　　MARIAN WANG, PROPUBLICA: Well, just to give a little more context, the pool of private student loan borrowers is vastly outnumbered by the pool of federal student loan borrowers. And the feds originate a vast majority of student loan debt. And you're absolutely right that the feds have for a long time offered income-based repayment plans, things that will help you sort of scale your monthly payments to something that's reasonable for you if you qualify for those programs.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Right. So is there an idea, is there kind of a benchmark that they know about what income level this is going to hit someone at, and if they go from 10 percent to one percent, that's obviously a significant saving, but it also, I guess, depends on how much they have in debt, right?

　　ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS: Sure, so what Wells Fargo, at least, has said is it's going to look at their overall debt by looking at the borrowers credit reports and they're looking at their income, and they're hoping to come to something like a monthly payment that equals about 10 to 15 percent of their income.

　　Now, what's also interesting is that Discover, which is the third largest private student lender in the country, is also planning on rolling out loan modifications early next year. What we've heard from them is there are potentially even more significant breaks that are being considered. For instance, loan forgiveness, which is something totally unheard of that a private lender would have never even considered up until recently.

　　And it's important to point out that private student borrowers, though dealing¹⁰ with a lot of difficulties, as Marian pointed¹¹ out, are a small share of the overall borrowers out there. So private student loan debt accounts for about eight percent of outstanding student loans. We've seen a lot of back and forth between lenders and the CFPB. Lenders are saying, why are you picking on us when the federal government accounts for the majority of that out there.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Alright, so Marian, what about the role that parents play in this? A lot of parents take out private personal loans on top of whatever the financial aid package is that the university can give, right?

　　MARIAN WANG: Well, yeah, and there's actually a federal program that's specifically geared at parents that I did a report on a couple years ago. It's interesting because federal student loans to students in particular are capped at a certain level. You can only borrow so much in a year. And so, there's not a lot of underwriting and that's why there's a cap.

　　This federal program for borrowing specifically geared toward parents, actually it's called the Parent Plus program, and that's an interesting program because those programs aren't capped. You can take as much out as you need. There's very limited underwriting for those loans. And that program is interesting because you see a lot of the financial strain that families face through that program because it's not capped.

　　And so you can see more parents taking out more loans, taking out larger loans through this program over time. You've really seen it especially in the last five years.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So are those loans through the Parent Plus Program at greater risk for default if, say for example, a parent may not have a steady income coming in but they still qualify to take out a huge loan to get their kids through school.

　　MARIAN WANG: Absolutely. That's something we looked at. There's very limited underwriting where they don't look at your debt-to-income ratio, like a private lender would. And they can take out vast amounts of money, as much as they need, essentially, to help their kid out, and a lot of parents do. That's absolutely a thing that parents can get overextended in doing so.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And what about the roles that colleges and universities play in this too? I mean, there doesn't seem to be that much transparency in figuring out exactly what the financial aid package is and why once student got this much and another student got this much, when perhaps their parents made the same, right?

　　ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS: Well, what's playing out, the reason why we're seeing more borrowers, more students come out of school with more debt is because college tuition costs keep rising, right? And what become very confusing for families is when financial aid packages go out to students. And most schools, what they do is they include student loans as part of the financial aid package — federal student loans, that is — but one would argue is to how much of aid is a student loan when a student loan is something you have to pay back. It's not like grants or scholarships, for example.

　　So colleges for sure do play a large role here. And there's been this ongoing¹² debate about why should, for instance, the federal government keep giving out more and more aid? It's essentially incentivizing the colleges to continue increasing their tuition because they're saying, well, the money's got to come from somewhere, someone's going to pay for it.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Right.

　　MARIAN WANG: And to your question, too, I think absolutely, schools need to be brought into this. Schools have their own pot of financial aid, essentially. And there's a sticker price, but they discount it heavily depending on what kind of student you are. And so they have your financial information and they are essentially moneyballing financial aid these days.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Explain that.

　　MARIAN WANG: There's a whole industry called enrollment¹³ management. There didn't used to be enrollment managers at schools, you know, two decades ago. But that's a position that's sort of been created, essentially to use data, to really create detailed¹⁴ student profiles and do what they call — this is all jargon¹⁵ — but it's "financial aid leveraging¹⁶." How does the school get the biggest bang for its financial aid dollar?

　　And sometimes that means they're essentially picking students that they are OK having overborrow, versus¹⁷ students whom they really want and will generally try to protect from having to borrow. And so they're trying to incentivize certain students coming and certain students they care less about and they're more comfortable, honestly packaging a student loan in that financial aid package. And that's a decision that schools are making, picking which students essentially get more, and which students will have to borrow more.

　　And I think that should definitely be put on schools. The other thing I think is really important to bring up is that it's on schools to make sure that kids are graduating on time with a meaningful degree. And the surest way to get in over your head with student debt is to drop out and have debt for college and nothing to show for it. You don't have that credential. You don't have that higher earning power.

　　That's a huge source of debt, and that's really a terrible situation for a student to be in. The other thing is graduating on time. It's a sure way to get more debt if you stay six years versus your peer who's able to get out in four.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Alright, Marian Wang from ProPublica and AnnaMaria Andriotis from the Wall Street Journal, thanks so much for joining us.

　　ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS: Thank you.

　　MARIAN WANG: Thanks for having us.

1 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

2 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

6 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

9 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

13 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

14 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

15 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

16 leveraging   

促使…改变( leverage的现在分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• De-leveraging is a painful process: it has barely begun. 去杠杆化是个痛苦的过程：它才刚刚开始。
• Archimedes said, saying: Give me a fulcrum, I can leveraging the Earth. 阿基米德说过一句话：给我一个支点，我可以撬动地球。

17 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。