Researchers, economists, and campus administrators who have followed federal student aid programs worry that businesses have turned the Guaranteed Student Loan Program into a lucrative industry that doesn't always have the students' interest in mind, and a congressional study group is also concerned about aspects of the program. (MSE)

A report on for-profit trade schools said that many schools offer such poor-quality training that large numbers of their students drop out and default on their student loans when they cannot find jobs. Secretary Bennett calls on Congress to crack down on proprietary schools. (MLW)

Under the College Housing Loan Program, the Education Department lends money to colleges to build and refurbish dormitories and other student facilities. Problems plaguing the loan program are discussed. Both colleges and the federal government have broken most of the rules governing the program. (MLW)

A series of steps by the Education Department and Congress to crack down on loan defaulters are discussed. Several factors have put defaults in the spotlight, including a study listing default rates at all postsecondary institutions and hard-hitting newspaper editorials. (MLW)

The Education Department's calculation of student loan default rates is disputed. New Education Department regulations will strip federal loan money from students attending schools where large numbers of former students have defaulted. (MLW)

Colleges and universities will be held directly responsible for loan repayments by their former students. Most postsecondary institutions with default rates of more than 20% are for-profit trade schools, community colleges, or historically Black colleges. (MLW)

A study to examine the repayment of Guaranteed Student Loans is described. It found that most of the institutions with more than 60 percent of their student loans in default are proprietary schools. The study is aimed at helping state and federal policymakers make decisions on student-aid programs. (MLW)

Officials on 10 campuses that are testing the new income contingent loans say that borrowers don't understand how it works, and they predict that students would not like the new loans because the interest rates are so high that it could take a life-time to pay the money back. (MLW)

Pennsylvania's sophisticated system for student loan fraud and abuse detection is described, including the factors felt to contribute to its success and suggestions for improving other state agency fraud units. (MSE)

Concern about problems that inflexible educational loan payments cause for some people has reopened the idea of income-contingent repayment schedules, but financial aid experts see insurmountable problems in stretching out loans indefinitely, increasing indebtedness by slowing down payments, overall inequities favoring high-income borrowers, and…