By . Our second chapter covers the period from roughly 1972 (when Sallie Mae was established) through 1998 (when Congress made it next to impossible to discharge student loans through bankruptcy). These are the years when the impact of the original student-loan policy became apparent. The headlines from this period focused on student deadbeats who weren’t repaying their loans, and federal education officials often found themselves testifying before Congressional committees, which demanded that more be done to collect on delinquent loans. That was the public drama surrounding student loans. More...