Could the Lone Star State have the solution?

Forbes reports.

A Texas Solution To The Nation’s College Debt Crisis?

Can the college student-loan debt crisis get any worse? According to the latest Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, the answer is, “Yes, and it already has.” During the last quarter of 2014, delinquency rates for student loans worsened. “Although we’ve seen an overall improvement in delinquency rates since the Great Recession, the increasing trend in student loan balances and delinquencies is concerning,” said a Federal Reserve Bank researcher. “Student loan delinquencies and repayment problems appear to be reducing borrowers’ ability to form their own households.”

But there could be better news on the horizon. The Texas Legislature is currently considering a bill—the “I CAN” Bill (“Incentivizing College Affordability Now”)—that would take statewide a new initiative called the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Program (TABP), which offers targeted college degrees for far less than what Texas public university students currently pay.

The breakthrough can’t come fast enough for students. According to a recent summary of data compiled by the Texas comptroller’s office, “In 2012, 20.5 percent of . . . [Texas’s] student loan borrowers were more than 90 days delinquent, surpassing the national rate of 17 percent and marking the 10th highest rate in the country.” The comptroller’s report adds, “Particularly worrying is the fact that rising tuition rates are driving an equally steep increase in college loan debt. . . . Many Texas college graduates and former students are entering adult life hobbled by years and even decades of crippling debt.”