Inside Higher Education reports that an analysis conducted by FI Consulting in contract with the U.S. Department of Education has concluded that the federal government's losses from student loans could exceed $430 billion.
From Inside Higher Education: "Borrowers can be expected to pay back $935 billion in principal and interest, the analysis found, which leaves $435 billion in government losses, according to the [Wall Street] Journal. That’s 80 percent of the amount private lenders lost on subprime mortgages during the financial crisis, $535 billion. Loans in income-based repayment programs drove projected losses."