Although the federal government's main accountability lever — eligibility for federal grants and
loans — is only
implemented at the institution
level for most of higher education, the GE data show the value of targeting individual programs, rather than entire institutions.
Higher undergraduate and graduate
loan limits
implemented in the early 1990s and 2007, the elimination of limits on PLUS
loans in 1993, watering down of accountability rules, like the change to the «85/15» rule in 1998, expansions of
loan eligibility to online programs (including online graduate programs) in 2006, and overall rising costs have allowed many more borrowers to accumulate not - before - seen
levels of debt, and many will never be able to repay it.