Illinois Attorney General Pushes Student-Loan Transparency Bill

By: Dorothy Tucker - CBS Chicago

That math is not good: Breia Harris takes in $1,400 a month, and pays about $800 of that toward her students loans of $65,000.

She graduated from Ferris State University with a degree in communications and eventually got a job in event planning.

“It’s very stressful. Some nights I’ve cried just looking at my budgeting, trying to figure out what needs to be done, what needs to be paid,” she says.

Like millions of others, Harris says she called her loan servicer for help on how to tackle the bills.

“It was not helpful at all,” she says.

Harris’ concerns echo those of the nearly 1,600 who filed complaints in the last year against the private companies in Illinois that are supposed to offer consumers the best options to repay their loans. Officials say they are not.