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)

Loan deferment and forgiveness programs, first developed at the Harvard Law School, are appearing at a variety of institutions. These schools are helping alumni who choose public interest careers to pay off educational loans. Public interest careers include working for schools, hospitals, the government, arts organizations, etc. (MLW)

A table showing the rates of default on Stafford Student Loans at more than 2,600 non-profit colleges, universities, and vocational and technical schools is presented. The default rate represents the proportion of borrowers entering repayment status in fiscal 1986 who failed to make loan payments. (MLW)

According to a report from the National Research Council, 53 percent of those who received doctorates in 1987-88 did not owe any money for their education. Graduates in engineering and the physical sciences were less likely to be in debt than those in the humanities, life sciences, and social sciences. (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)

Student loans remain the most popular student-assistance program, because loans let lawmakers stretch federal dollars. Students have lost ground in the battle to keep up with rising tuition, etc. As an example students at the University of Illinois (Chicago) are borrowing three times as much as they did five years ago. (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…

Federal budget-balancing legislation includes tax credits and deductions, worth $40-billion over five years, to help people pay for college. Provisions include tax credits, deduction of student loan interest and some employer-paid tuition assistance, penalty-free individual retirement account withdrawals, student loan forgiveness, institutional…

President Bill Clinton used the declining default rate on college student loans as a basis for proposing tax breaks for college costs. Reduced defaults have saved taxpayer money and helped reduce the federal deficit. Over 150 colleges and universities, including 25 private institutions, risk losing eligibility for federal grant and loan programs…

The Clinton Administration's proposed overhaul of the guaranteed student loan program would pay banks the amount of unpaid federal student loans, making the government the sole insurer of the loans. Guarantee agencies feel this action would strip them of their primary tasks of reimbursing lenders for unpaid loans. The initiative is intended to…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This June 18, 2004 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "What Would Higher Education Do with $6-Billion a Year?" (Shireman,…