>> In Florida, Dennis Ballard has been grappling with $250,000 in combined student loans with his ex-spouse, a process which has been stressful not just because of the high monthly payments and the unnecessary frequent interactions with his ex, but also because the loans didn’t qualify for the pandemic payment pause. >> “Just on a personal level, having to constantly deal with your ex-wife, that can be kind of frustrating,” Ballard told Yahoo Finance. >> In Arkansas, Paula, 61, said she has been dutifully paying on over a hundred thousand dollars in federal student loans but her hours had been cut and income reduced so she was worried sick about making $1,200 in monthly payments once the payment pause on federally-backed student loans lifts in October. >> “I’m just waiting for garnishments,” Paula told Yahoo Finance. >> 'No remedies in the law' >> The “student loan crisis” was already a big part of the education conversation in the 1990s as experts worried about college tuition rising faster than inflation and alarming default rates across the country. >> In 1992, Congress also introduced a suite of consolidation programs to help borrowers with repayment. In the Higher Education Act of 1992, lawmakers created the spousal consolidation loan. >> "A married couple, each of whom as eligible student loans," the text states, "may be treated as if such couple were an individual borrowing ... [and] if such couple agrees to be held jointly and severally liable for the repayment of a consolidation loan ... and without regard to any subsequent change that may occur in such couple's martial status," the text stated. >> And so from January 1, 1993 to June 30, 2006, married borrowers could be jointly liable for loan repayment via the Department of Education. And even after the program ended, Representative David Price (D-NC) told Yahoo Finance, Congress "didn't fix the problem for everybody who was already stuck with it."