Some argue that one important fix to the system is to allow for student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy.

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The new system would have incorporated student progress on state tests and replaced a simple system in place for decades that rated the vast majority of teachers satisfactory.

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For years we had a system in which the student loan program went through banks and financial intermediaries who would take a fee, even though they were taking no risk, because these were all federally guaranteed loans.

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For instance, a minority student in California who would have been admitted to Berkeley under the old system may now end up at Riverside, a less selective college.

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