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 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)

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…