Dept. of Education hearing, CSU Dominguez Hills (Photo by Anna Sterling)

Every morning at eight, ten and again at noon calls from the debt collectors arrive.

Mintz, 26, has defaulted on the $100,000+ she owes in student loans. The collectors make sure she never forgets it. 

“I feel like I’m drowning every day,” said Mintz, a School of Visual Arts graduate. 

Recent college graduates, like Mintz, are defaulting on student loans at the highest rate in nearly two decades, according to a recent Department of Education study. The study, published in September, found that one in 10 recent borrowers defaulted on their student loans in the first two years after graduation—the highest rate since 1995 and up from 4.5 percent a decade ago. 

The percentage of people who defaulted three years after graduating is even higher, at about 15 percent. 

READ MORE: Federal Student Loan Interest Rates To Double On July 1st

Financial experts say several factors are driving the increase. 

Students are leaving school with increasing levels of debt. College seniors graduate with an average of $26,000 in student loans, marking a 25 percent increase over the past decade, according to a study by Demos, a public policy organization.

The nation’s economic problems have continued to fuel the issue with a sharp decline in state funding for higher education and a bleak job market for graduates.

Educating students on the risks of accumulating large student loans is the first step to reversing the trend, according to Jerry Basford, a financial planning professor at The University of Utah.

“I don’t think we’ve done a good job of educating students on how much debt they’re getting into,” said Basford. “Most financial aid officers aren’t debt counselors.”

Mintz’ dream was to study photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and eventually become a photo editor. When she got into her dream school, she was the pride of her family. She was the first person in her family to go to college.

Her parents, who relied on her father’s income as an arborist, were unable to help with the expense of attending the private arts school. At 18, the Connecticut native didn’t have any credit to take out loans in her name alone and needed a co-signer. Her brother, a carpenter who owned his own business, co-signed on her loans at about $40,000 a year. 

They all thought the value of her education would be a priceless investment in her future. But when she graduated in 2009, many photo editing jobs were being cut as magazines struggled with declining profits and the rise of digital media.

Despite working prestigious photography internships at places like Condé Nast and Art + Commerce, Mintz received no job offers when she graduated. 

“I was living in New York at the time and they wanted seasoned veterans, not young kids coming out of college,” said Mintz.

She has worked various low-paying jobs in the photography industry since then, but has been unable to afford her roughly $400 monthly loan payments.

The hourly calls Mintz receives from debt collectors are a mere nuisance compared to the strife the debt has caused her family. Since her brother co-signed her loans, he is also in default. The debt collectors hound him too.

Defaulting on her loans has destroyed their relationship. Mintz hasn’t talked to her brother in almost a year.

“He’s mad at the whole situation,” Mintz said. “He just had a baby a couple months ago and I haven’t even seen or met it. It’s just a huge disconnect and nobody talks. [We’re] broken.

READ MORE: The Real Reason Behind Student Debt

Failing to pay student loans on time can trigger invasive debt collection tactics such as wage garnishments, withheld tax returns and unending daily phone calls. 

“Default is a fate almost worse than death,” said Natalia Abrams, co-founder of Student Debt Crisis, a non-profit advocacy organization. “It is no man's land.” 

Student Debt Crisis pushes for legislative reform and conducts public awareness campaigns about the dangers of student debt. The organization has even become a hotline for people struggling with this issue. 

“Our calls have definitely increased, especially in the month of December,” said Abrams. “This is when people who graduated in June are getting their first monthly [loan statement]. It’s really sad since it’s right before Christmas.”

Abrams takes most of the phone calls and serves in a role much like that of a social worker. She directs callers to other agencies, governmental or non-profit, that can be helpful to struggling graduates. 

“We have heard of people with high debt over $100,000 that are in default that have chosen to move out of the country,” she said. “One person moved to Mexico just so she didn’t have to pay off her loans.”

READ MORE: Students Must Educate Themselves About Government Loans For Education

Student loans do not have the same protection as other types of debt, like credit card debt. This means that borrowers’ financial information may be shared with other people, whether or not those people are co-signed on the loan. 

Abrams dealt with one case in which the mother of a graduate in default had debt collectors share the family’s financial situation with her sister. 

“They will call anybody,” said Abrams. “I’ve had an employee who was in default and [debt collectors] called me to get that [person’s financial] information… [Employers] may not want to hire someone with that kind of credit history.”

Coinciding with the release of the Department of Education study, President Obama announced a plan that addresses the issue. Dubbed the College Affordability Initiative, the effort is aimed at making students more knowledgeable about higher education costs, keeping schools with high default rates accountable, and ultimately, making student debt more affordable.

The plan is laid out in three main points: a pay-for-performance college rankings system, promotion of innovation and competition, and helping students manage their debt.

Obama’s plan will encourage states to increase funding for public colleges and tie such funding to graduation rates rather than enrollment numbers. It will also challenge schools to compete with one another by re-designing coursework to utilize the newest technologies available. The president has also proposed capping monthly payments on student loans at no more than 10 percent of a borrower’s monthly income.

As part of the plan, the White House is setting up a college ranking system that will take into account factors such as graduation rates, tuition costs, scholarships and financial aid, and how much a school’s graduates earn. The ratings will be used to determine how government aid is allocated to colleges, the administration said. 

The president has also proposed capping monthly payments on student loans at no more than 10 percent of a borrower’s monthly income.

“If we can get this rankings system to work well and put pressure on schools that aren’t delivering properly, I think it could have potential to work,” said Abrams.

While people like Abrams think Obama’s proposed rankings system can be helpful, others like Jerry Basford think that putting those ideas into practice will be much more complicated.

“[The University of Utah] has 33,000 students and is very decentralized," remarked Basford. "When you get into that size [school], it’s going to be really difficult to figure out the difference in performance between the performing arts and biology.”

READ MORE: Obama Administration Pushes For Student Loan Rate Reduction Legislation

Student debt can haunt people for years.

Malissa Babe, 47, owes about $300,000 in loans, despite originally leaving college with $17,000 from her undergraduate studies in 1992.

The Kent State University graduate consolidated her loans with her husband at the time. He attended the College of Wooster, a private school in Ohio, with about $110,000 of debt. 

Despite the fact that Babe and her husband divorced years later, they remain married to their loans. 

Those loans accrued a large amount of interest over time when her husband stopped making payments, she said. 

They are now in default.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” Babe said. “Every time I talk about it, I get so anxious because it's forever. They’ve got me forever.”

Reach Staff Reporter Anna Sterling here.