Teachers Fight for Student Loan Debt Relief

Two federal programs intended to steer college students toward public service jobs like teaching in high-poverty schools instead became mired in missteps, as recipients found their grants wrongly converted into high-interest loans. Cory Turner of NPR’s education team spent 18 months looking at problems with the TEACH Grant program. His findings helped spur the U.S. Department of Education to reverse course. He’s also been digging into Congress’ attempts to address problems with private servicers hired by the feds to administer the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Fund. How did open records factor into Turner’s reporting process? What techniques did he use to sort through the red tape and find the human stories underneath? How can education reporters carve out time for investigative work, even on tight deadlines?

This episode of EWA Radio originally aired September 25, 2019.