Students and families confront a detrimental lack of information and transparency when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives: paying for college. The report analyzed thousands of financial aid award letters and found not only that financial aid is insufficient to cover the cost of college for many students, but also that…

The federal financial aid system is no longer up to today's demands. Built in a different era, its haphazard evolution over the decades has made it inefficient, poorly targeted, and overly complicated. With the need for higher education never greater and college growing increasingly unaffordable, students deserve a streamlined aid system that is…

Describes how college lobbying groups are squabbling over how much students should be able to borrow in federal student loans. (EV)

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)

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)

Reports on continued growth of Sallie Mae, the nation's largest financer of federal student loans. Notes the company's purchase of the USA Group, the nation's largest student loan guarantee agency, competition with the federal direct loan program, political contributions to legislators who set loan policies, and development of Laureate, a…

Colleges and universities are finding that improvements in the guaranteed student loan process are making it more attractive than direct lending. In its third year, the direct lending program's total loan volume remains at 33%, well below the 50% goal set in originating legislation. Even some of its strongest supporters fear the program will have…

Discusses how the direct-lending program, popular with colleges, may be doomed; a lawsuit and changing political fortunes pose threats to the system. (EV)

The federal Department of Education will help college students save money on loan interest if they consolidate loans in the direct lending program while in college. Some college lobbyists feel the administration has not done enough to cut fees and help students and colleges and, as a result, may lose direct-loan participants to bank-loan 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…

Discusses issues addressed by a Congessionally mandated panel to identify and evaluate options for infusing market forces into the student loan program. Notes possible advantages. Conflicting views of the panel's student representatives, college administrators, and lenders are reported concerning reductions of lenders' profits, removal of…

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…

The implications of the 1998 Higher Education Act Amendments for students and institutions are summarized, including those for federal student financial aid programs, loan guarantee agency reforms, distance-education programs, student and institutional eligibility, campus crime, college costs, federal outreach and student service programs,…