 After the Boston Globe published an article critical of Sallie Mae's failure to discharge the private student loans of a Marine killed in action, Sallie Mae launched a new student loan program with death and disability discharges similar to those available on federal student loans.Since then, about half of private student loans offer death and disability discharges.In 2011, The New York Times published an editorial endorsing the return of bankruptcy protections for private student loans in response to the economic downturn and universally increasing tuition at all colleges and graduate institutions.