Why This State’s Navient Lawsuit Could Affect Your Student Loans

Pennsylvania is ground zero for America’s student debt crisis.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Photographer: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

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If you’re one of the 44 million Americans who have a student loan, there’s a good chance the customer service representative who answers your call when there’s a problem is in Pennsylvania, where as much as half of the nation’s $1.5 trillion student loan tab is serviced.

The Keystone state is home to the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency [PHEAA], a quasi-government enterprise that collects payments on a quarter of the nation’s student loans, and a three-acre campus north of Philadelphia where about 1,000 Navient Corp. employees busily help manage another quarter.