When college students don their graduation caps, they may be clutching a diploma in one hand, but are holding onto thousands of dollars in student loan debt in the other.

Two-thirds of undergrads borrowed money for their education, and each owes an average of more than $23,000. However they defaulted on 13.4% of those loans.

A collections agency may attempt to recoup that money, but schools like Yale are taking an extraordinary step against some borrowers: suing them.

They're specifically attempting to collect money from Perkins loans, a federally-funded and school-managed program. When grads fail to pay back their Perkins loan, it drains the pool of money that could be given to future students.

Janet Lorin from Bloomberg News explains why these schools are using litigation as the solution.

Are you struggling to pay your loans? Looking back, was it the best way to pay for school?  Tell us on our Public Insight Network.