Liberals and Conservatives Find Common Ground at Student-Debt Forum

By STEPHEN BURD

Policy makers need to devote more attention to helping student-loan borrowers with low incomes who have taken on unmanageable levels of debt, several student-aid experts said last week at a conference here about student indebtedness.

The gathering marked the official start of the Project on Student Debt, an effort led by Robert M. Shireman, a former education-policy adviser in the Clinton administration. The project is intended to develop public-policy proposals to reduce the burden of