In 2015, more than two hundred thousand student debtors over the age of fifty had their Social Security garnished. One of them was Olivia Faison, a retired analytical chemist who is now seventy-one.

TWO OF THE NATION'S DEBTORS. Send any friend a story. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

While Caldwell County rakes in cash from poor people in its jail, Stoddard County doesn't charge them. Why? It's wrong, says presiding commissioner Greg Mathis.