A New Indentured Class

By JEFFREY J. WILLIAMS

I am a statistic. I am one of millions on the rolls of student debt. Every month I write a check for $650 to Sallie Mae. I simply abbreviate the entry in my checkbook as S-M. It hurts.

At 47 years old, and 16 years out of grad school, I still owe $9,000 on my graduate-school loans. Earning $28,000 as an assistant professor, I could...