High costs are making college unaffordable, or even impossible, for many Americans. Professor Nicholas Hillman outlines why student loan debt has become such a major issue. Professor Laura Perna highlights a potential solution -- free tuition programs.

For More on This Topic:

• Read Hillman’s brief, Designing Better Ways to Regulate Colleges with Too Many Students Who Default on Federal Loans
• Check out Perna’s research project on penn.org/creating-knowledge/college-promise"> college promise programs.

Further Reading:

• Episode 52: Paying the Price, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Temple University
• Episode 4: The Student Debt Crisis, Nicholas Hillman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Making Loans Work for Today's College Students, Susan Dynarski, University of Michigan