Describes how, as new competitors lobby for legislation for further open the student loan market to them, Sallie Mae and other lenders have responded by attacking the loan consolidation program. (EV)

The annual meeting of the College Board focused on some of the most controversial issues facing higher education including: productivity, accountability, prepaid tuition plans, Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program, and one alternative to the G.S.L.--students could borrow from the government and then pay a higher Social Security tax. (MLW)

The text of "Student Loans: Are They Overburdening a Generation?", the report of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress concerning the impact of large student debts on the national economy, individual borrowers, education, and society in general is presented. (MSE)

A new federal regulation requires that both students and institutions repay the portion of student aid not used for education. Students must repay the "unearned" portion, less a 50% discount; colleges must return the portion of student aid that does not cover the period in which they were enrolled. Critics include community colleges,…

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)

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)

The rapid and substantial rise in college student indebtedness has raised concern about young people's ability to repay loans and the impact on the national economy, the borrowers' economic well-being, equality of access to higher education, and even the educational process itself. (MSE)

A table that shows the rates of default on Stafford Student Loans at non-profit colleges, universities, vocational and technical schools is presented. The default rate represents the proportion of borrowers required to begin paying off their loans in fiscal 1987 who failed to make payments in 1987 or 1988. (MLW)

State low-interest college loans programs for middle-class families have emerged in response to restrictions on federally subsidized Stafford Loans. The key difference between federal and state programs is that most state programs require student borrowers and cosigners to prove good credit risks, reducing loan default and making the programs…

The student loan default rate was 9.6% in 1996, a decline of 12.8% since the 1990 peak, saving the federal government $3 billion over six years. Since 1993 the Department of Education has barred 1065 institutions, mostly for-profit trade schools, from participating in federal student loan programs; institutions with a 40% default rate can lose…

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)

Colleges risk losing eligibility for government student loan programs, because of tightened loan-repayment requirements for participating institutions. Economic factors and some data-processing errors are blamed for high student default rates. Default rates are charted by state, lender, institution type, and guarantee agency. Colleges threatened…

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)