Student Loan Blog

It’s “all hands on deck” for federal student loan lenders. The banks and third-party student loan providers that make up the Federal Family Education Loan Program have made it abundantly clear that they’re not going to roll over and accept the terms of the Obama administration’s proposal to axe their loan program in favor of the Education ...

Just as Congress is about to vote on President Obama’s plan to end the government’s Federal Family Education Loan Program, through which families get their student loans from private third-party lenders, a lender advocacy group is urging lawmakers to consider an alternative to the president’s proposal, reports The Chronicle of ...

Sallie Mae — the largest provider of college student loans in the country — may ultimately see three quarters of its student loan business evaporate under a plan by President Obama that would end government subsidies to third-party lenders and establish the federal government as the sole provider of federal student loans, ...

Despite New York’s $15 billion budget deficit, Gov. David Paterson announced he is creating a student loan program that would allow New York college students to borrow $350 million in low-cost private student loans directly from the state, reports The New York Times (“Governor to Unveil a Low-Cost Student Loan Program,” Dec. 15, 2008). State ...

In a move intended to avoid a shortfall in student loans next year, Congress has expanded the government program to buy federally guaranteed student loans from private lenders. Under the updated loan-purchase plan, the Education Department can now buy lenders’ student loans with origination dates between Oct. 1, 2003, and ...

The student loan crunch that began this past spring failed to become the widespread crisis that experts predicted, according to the results of a survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Still, the NAICU reports, some of the private colleges surveyed have had to scramble to help their ...

A Milwaukee technical college is providing emergency student loans to some of its students after one of the college’s student loan providers announced it would not immediately have funds to issue the loans, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (“MATC Offers Emergency Loans After Edamerica Delays Payments,” Sept. 23, 2008). To assist ...

With problems in the credit markets continuing to plague student loan providers, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a year-long extension of the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, which allows the secretary of education to buy student loans from cash-strapped lenders. If approved by the Senate, the measure, ...

According to a regional survey of financial aid officers from 214 New England colleges and universities, students and parents have had few problems accessing federal student loans this year, but financial aid administrators have lingering doubts about how easily students will be able to secure college loans next year (“Student Loan Availability ...

As cash-strapped lenders continue to drop out of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the number of student loans originated for the 2008–09 school year through the government’s Direct Loan Program has increased by 43 percent, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“As ‘Crisis’ Deters Loan Companies, Direct Lending Sees ...