A recent Education Department report reveals the nation's student loan default rate was the lowest ever in 1994, at less than half the rate of 1990. New enforcement power, improved collections, and an improving economy are credited with the change. However, high default rates threaten the right of over 300 colleges and universities to participate…

Offers advice to higher education institutions about financing decisions on their debt portfolios. Addresses developing a debt management framework, factors affecting strategy, interest rate management, establishing a debt management benchmark, and adopting a prospective approach. Sidebars discuss the trade-offs of credit offerings, and…

The introduction to the collection of papers produced for or generated by a 1988 symposium titled "Law Student Debt, the Salary 'Gap' and Their Impact on the Legal Profession" notes the response of New York University (which adopted a loan forgiveness program) to the dilemma posed by the symposium. (DB)

This article investigates the extent to which student borrowers might be induced to prepay by an offer from the government to share a portion of its savings expected from prepayment. The analysis suggests that potential savings are not likely to be large enough to induce significant prepayment. (Author/MLW)

This article urges the financing of higher education by the Tuition Advance Fund, under which any undergraduate degree candidate is advanced money to pay for his or her education. The money is later repaid through a payroll-withholding tax administered by the Internal Revenue Service. It argues that such a plan would be an improvement in both…

Survey of college students who managed credit cards wisely and those who did not (N=310), revealed that responsible users were more likely to have acquired credit cards before matriculating in college. Discusses implications for future personal-debt management and for institutions of higher education with regard to credit-card vendors. (EMK)

Federal grant aid is seen as more costly than college work-study or loan programs. The revolving National Direct Student Loan (NDSL) funds being built at institutions have tremendous potential. For the NDSL program the interest paid by the student remains in the fund for future loans. (MLW)

Secretary of Education William J Bennett's use of for-profit schools as a metaphor for all student-loan collection problems threatens to reduce the financial options for low-income, educational at-risk youth. More grant aid is a better solution than additional barriers to student eligibility. (MSE)

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)

With tuition rising and anxiety mounting over students too deeply in debt, an effort to change the psychology of paying for college is gaining steam. The Reagan Administration is expected to propose a new savings bond whose interest would be tax free if the bond is cashed in for college. (MLW)

Student loan defaults have been and are currently a serious national concern on the part of all the participants in the GSL (Guaranteed Student Loan) program. It is recognized by policymaker and practitioner alike that this threatens the quality and integrity of our federal student aid programs more than any other single issue. (CT)

Consists of background information on and an interview with United States Representative William D. Ford, a Democrat from Michigan. Topics discussed include private technical schools, public funding of training, high-risk students, the student loan default rate issue, and accountability. (CH)

The Hong Kong system of student loans for higher education has worked efficiently since 1969. Many factors in its success are location-specific, but other governments may both learn from and contribute to the Hong Kong experience. (MSE)

Discusses major characteristics of the Reagan Administration's proposal to make National Direct Student Loan repayments contingent on borrowers' income. Summarizes alternative repayment schemes and legislative action to conduct an income-contingent demonstration project for 1987 through 1991. The proposal shifts loan program costs to students and…

Kansas Wesleyan University, the first postsecondary institution to experience a sudden federal crackdown on delinquent loans for dormitory construction, developed a seven-part plan of payment and alternative building use and learned some lessons about resolving such a situation. (MSE)