Over the past five years, the number of complaints filed against agencies collecting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education has grown by 45 percent. The Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the entire industry, received 142,743 complaints involving debt-collection companies last year, though only some involved student loans. Consumer…

When students or recent graduates come to talk with Anthony M. Sozzo, an associate dean for student affairs at New York Medical College, about repaying their federal loans, he sometimes struggles with what to tell them. He states that the answers are increasingly being complicated by an ever-expanding federal loan-servicing system. The number of…

As the cost of college has spiraled ever upward and median family income has fallen, the loan program, called Parent PLUS, has become indispensable for increasing numbers of parents desperate to make their children's college plans work. Last year the government disbursed $10.6-billion in Parent PLUS loans to just under a million families. Even…

Armed with data and projections about budgets and future enrollments, Wilson College, in Pennsylvania, considers a slew of changes, including men. Among other changes, the board approved cutting tuition by $5,000, starting a high-profile loan-buyback program, creating new offerings in the health sciences and other career-oriented disciplines, and…

Alumni of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, young adults selected for their intellect, leadership skills, service, and financial need, are finding success in the law, government, science, business, medicine, and the arts. Yet they remain tied to the scholarship program, contributing to its continued success by donating money and volunteer hours to…

2008 has been a tumultuous year in the financial world, culminating in scandals and bailouts. In 2009, the author asserts, people can probably expect not only more financial upheaval, but also further attempts by state and local governments to stem the all-but-fated turmoil. But in all the talk of bailouts, of embattled homeowners, and the…

The end of the fiscal year usually isn't a momentous occasion for colleges. But this June 30 could be a day of reckoning many never expected. Colleges borrowed billions of dollars over the past decade to improve facilities and fulfill their ambitions. Now the consequences may be about to blow up in their finances. The author reports on how…

In a speech before a group of career-college executives and lobbyists, freshman Representative Jason Altmire hinted that he would look out for the sector's interests in a coming conference between the House of Representatives and the Senate on legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Referring to a provision in the bill that would…

As he begins retirement this month after 40 years of federal service, the Education Department's departing inspector general, John P. Higgins Jr., sees one area that stands out for its susceptibility to costly waste and abuse. That area, Higgins said in an interview as he finished packing up his office, is student lending. Unless Congress greatly…

At many colleges across the nation, as administrators fret about the effects of a worsening economy, students arriving this fall will get more help securing jobs and more advice on paying for their educations. Some students will even find colleges willing to cut their tuition bills. This article reports that as banks tighten standards for private…

The troubled student-loan market is a hot topic among legislators, policy makers, and the public. Two recurring issues are how to ensure that enough funds are available to students and how to ensure that lenders are fully repaid. Yet despite all the talk about loans, little has been proposed to help college students and their families with the…

The rate at which borrowers default on their federally guaranteed student loans has declined to 4.6 percent, in part because of a record number of consolidations, the Education Department announced last week. "Borrowers took advantage of the opportunity to lock in record-low interest rates by consolidating their federal student loans," the…

Faced with having to make a decision between the career they want and one that will pay enough for them to climb out of debt, many college students are choosing the latter. This trend has alarmed some observers and has revived interest in an idea once thought to be a relic of the Clinton administration: income-contingent repayment. Legislation…

Pressure is growing for Congress to overhaul the student loan consolidation program which has allowed borrowers to lock in low interest rates over the loan life. Lenders and student groups are in opposition over the program; colleges are tending to take a neutral stance. (SLD)

America's financial aid system provides too much taxpayer support to banks making college loans, demands too little of students assuming them, and burdens families with too much debt. The system fails to reward rigorous college-preparatory work in high school and penalizes students who hold jobs while in college. Lenders make extraordinary…