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)

Student financial aid analysts are suggesting the federal government establish a government-run loan bank or trust fund to eliminate the need for lender involvement in the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, but congressional aides think that dismantling the existing program is unlikely. (MSE)

The National Youth Sports Program, administered by the NCAA and funded by a federal grant, introduces lacrosse to low-income children in Philadelphia. The camp, held at Temple University, offers instruction in 13 activities, and almost all of the children are seeing the inside of a college campus for the first time. (MLW)

The College Outcomes Evaluation Program, a New Jersey assessment plan, is intended to serve as an official blueprint for improving state higher education. It outlines specific goals for gauging quality but gives institutions leeway to carry them out. (MLW)

Federal agencies have had to begin making automatic budget reductions according to the new version of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit-reduction law, resulting in increased student loan fees and decreased banker subsidies. (MSE)

States are moving away from plans allowing parents to pay for their children's education at a fixed rate years in advance, instead looking at plans that simply help parents save money. Of the nine guaranteed-tuition programs, only three are in operation, and some are pressing for a national program. (MSE)

In almost half of the Department of Education's biennial audits of colleges receiving federal financial aid, institutions are found to have made mistakes in aid distribution, and each year the department asks colleges to return $25-million in aid money. Better oversight methods are urged. (MSE)

American universities are sponsoring overseas academic programs designed for their alumni and other adults. The programs last for 2 or 3 weeks, make money and cement cross-cultural academic ties. A program run by the University of California at Berkeley is described. (MLW)

A program that has awarded 94 scholarships to blacks attending one of the open universities--racially integrated institutions--in South Africa is described. (MLW)

North Carolina State's humanities-extension program operates through the university's cooperative-extension service. The program was begun when there was a realization that future interest in the humanities might drop, and the university wanted to find outreach outlets for the school's faculty members. (MLW)

A historic American-Soviet agreement establishes an undergraduate student exchange program whose unique feature is that the Soviet students will be allowed to attend American institutions unchaperoned for the first time, allowing them to assimilate into American college life. (MSE)

While American higher education institutions are trying to provide increased educational opportunities for Black South Africans, Black South African leaders are concerned that some educational and financial aid programs are being hastily planned and ill-conceived. (MSE)

The American Council on Education's president has proposed a broad plan to overhaul federal student aid, replacing current programs with a more coherent plan. It would expand grant-money for low-income students and maintain the present guaranteed-loan program while creating two new loan plans to reduce government costs. (MSE)

A group of college presidents has decided to expand campus public-service programs by encouraging college students to tutor disadvantaged young people, mentoring fourth through ninth graders in danger of not graduating from high school. (MSE)

A successful California engineering program helps minority students graduate from college by providing a strong student network, extensive tutoring and counseling, and direct faculty involvement. (MSE)