The United States government, both Democrat and Republican, since 1995, pushed people to take out loans who could not afford them. Because people had loans, they decided to buy houses, and the value of homes went up. To buy these homes, some people took out a 100 percent loan, meaning if a house cost $200,000, they took out a loan for $200,000.

In 2006, housing prices started to fall. Suddenly, the $200,000 house was worth less than that, say $190,000. Now people owed more than their house was worth. Since 2004, 29 percent of all homes sold are valued at less than their mortgage balances.

Because of this, some people began to walk away from their houses altogether. They just packed up and left, leaving the house, along with the unpaid loan, just sitting there.

Well, that’s not the whole story. For banks to make some quick money, they bundled up several of these loans that they gave to families and sold them to private investors all over the world, including in the United States, assuming that the loans would all be paid.

Not all of them were. Because of this, companies, like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, that bought those packages, went out of business when the loans weren’t paid.

Creighton’s endowment, which has stock in many corportations, took a hit when the market crashed. With less money in the endowment, there is less money for things like financial aid.