The FT's Rana Foroohar surveys the student loan landscape in the U.S., where declining state investments and burgeoning administrative costs have contributed to rapid inflation in tuition bills for students and parents:

• "[O]ver the past 10 years the amount of student loan debt in the US has grown by 170 per cent, to a whopping $1.4tn — more than car loans, or credit card debt."
• "In America, 44m people have student debt. Eight million of those borrowers are in default. That's a default rate which is still higher than pre-crisis levels..."
• "Having just attended the first college preparation meeting at my daughter's high school, where I was told to expect a $72,000 a year sticker fee for Ivy League and liberal arts colleges, I would feel lucky to get away with just that."