Introduction -- Part 1: The era of missed opportunities (1941-1971). The GI bill of goods -- Reading, writing, and Sputnik -- The education president -- Part 2: A market is born (1972-1995). Market actors -- Profits and loss -- The Reagan regression -- Grift revisited -- Part 3: Finance rules (1996-2007). Iron triangles -- A bankrupt system -- "Borrowers are the product" -- Part 4: Debtors unite (2008-). The collective debtor -- Biden time -- Past due -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index

Ryann Liebenthal's Burdened tells the maddening story of how the power plays of legislators and presidents, the commodification of higher education, and the rapacious practices of for-profit colleges and private lenders have created today's student-debt lava pit