Toby Merrill

Right now in Massachusetts, for-profit colleges are facing big questions, new regulations and lawsuits. The state attorney general is investigating about 12 of them — amid charges of low graduation rates and deceptive sales tactics that leave too many students mired in debt...But Mike DiGiacomo’s story is just one of many that raises a lot of questions about the for-profit college industry, at a time when it’s facing a lot scrutiny over high rates of debt and low rates of graduation and employment. Guests...Toby Merrill, attorney and senior clinical fellow at the predatory lending practice at the legal services center of Harvard Law School.

The Obama administration is moving to ease access to student loans for parents with damaged credit, a policy reversal that could saddle poor families with piles of debt but also boost college enrollment...Credit counselors say they have seen a rise in borrowers who took out large sums despite being on limited incomes. "This debt will remain a huge problem for the rest of their lives," said Toby Merrill, head of the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University's Legal Services Center.