South Carolina Business Review

Student loan borrowers to face more challenges

By Mike Switzer

Published March 25, 2026 at 6:30 AM EDT

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South Carolina Business Review, hosted by Mike Switzer

Student loan borrowers have faced a lot of challenges over the years, from the government’s on again/off again debt cancellations, to just plain unaffordable payment plans. Our state has nearly 775,000 federal student loan borrowers (14% of the state’s population) collectively owing a total of $30 billion. Our next guest says recent legislation may cause more challenges. Mike Switzer interviews Ray Jones, chief product officer for the South Carolina Student Loan Corporation in Columbia, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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