CFPB Rolls Out Financial Aid Shopping Sheet as Student Debt Tops $1 Trillion

Over the past decade, wages for young college graduates have actually declined by 5.4% when adjusting for inflation, Chopra told lawmakers. Between 1990 and 2010, wages for workers with only a high school diploma declined by 12%, when adjusted for inflation.

"This growing 'premium' is largely explained by declining wages for young people without a degree," he said. "Put another way, the growing gap is not due to a college degree becoming more valuable—it's that the wages of non-degree holders are falling."

However, he continued, "the cost of attendance at our nation's colleges and universities has not been falling. In the past decade, the cost of attendance at public schools increased 42%, and prices at private not-for-profit schools increased 31%, when adjusting for inflation. Tough economic times have led state governments to slash higher education budgets, exacerbating this trend. The cost of tuition and fees has risen more than tenfold since 1979, vastly outpacing inflation, wage growth and health care costs." The beta version of the CFPB's shopping sheet, part of the bureau's "Know Before You Owe" initiative—which was developed in collaboration with the Department of Education—was originally unveiled by CFPB Director Richard Cordray on a visit to South Dakota with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., in April.

A recent report found that South Dakota has the largest percentage of students leaving college with debt—an average of more than $23,000 per student.

Chopra said during his testimony that the financial aid shopping sheet helps "schools provide better information on student loans and grants," and pointed to other online tools that the CFPB has developed—which have been used by "tens of thousands of consumers"—on how to navigate their student loan repayment options, avoid default, and protect their credit history. Said Chopra: "We've also begun to supervise the nation's largest banks, where much of today's private student loan origination takes place, for compliance with federal consumer financial laws and to detect and assess risks to consumers."