But repaying a $20,000 loan at 6% interest and an additional $20,000 loan at 15% interest is simply unsustainable for someone who earns an hourly wage of $9. The take-home pay does not come close to covering interest payments, and paring down the principal is not an option. Obviously, repayment is even less feasible for the unemployed.

Under the terms of the private loans, the missed interest payments are added back to the principal. Loan balances balloon. More payments are missed. The $40,000 loans quickly pass six figures.

One student I worked with illustrates the despair. Believing that education was the path to financial security, he financed his culinary education by taking out a $42,116 private loan — at 17.375% interest. Upon graduation, he could not find a culinary job in California, so he moved to Oklahoma. Unable to find employment there, he moved to Florida. Still, no jobs. He finally found work in Missouri, where he earns $11 per hour, 20 hours per week. But with two children, he isn’t making enough to live on, much less to begin paying back loan debt that, with interest, has increased to $110,000 (and continues to grow).

That is just one of millions of examples of the burden student loans have placed on so many Americans. They are graduates of culinary colleges, graphic-design schools, art institutes and healthcare training programs. Nearly half of all federal student loan defaults are by students who attend for-profit colleges, and 96% of students who enroll at for-profit colleges take out federal loans.