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…

The complexity of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Fafsa) has been well documented and exhaustively discussed: At six pages and 120 questions, it is longer than even the 1040 tax form, with its two pages and 76 questions (not including schedules). The Fafsa's length and unfamiliar language--terms like "emancipated minor" and…

This article reports that members of Congress were poised to leave Washington last week with some major higher-education accomplishments to campaign on and a slate of unfinished business important to colleges. Topping the higher-education to-do list for the next Congressional session is federal spending for the 2009 fiscal year, which began…

This article reports that the US Education Department has announced that it will not require the National Education Loan Network (Nelnet), a major for-profit student-loan provider based in Nebraska, to return hundreds of millions of dollars in government subsidies, but it will cut off the overpayments going forward. The department will also stop…

Twenty years ago, a U.S. Senate aide walked into a bank in Maine and saw a sign that read "Take out a student loan today, get a toaster." The aide, concerned that students would be tempted to take out loans they did not need, drafted legislation barring lenders from offering "inducements" to borrow. That language was added to the Higher Education…

Several months into a credit crunch that has led at least 20 lenders to leave the guaranteed loan program or suspend their lending operations, lawmakers have begun to respond with a sense of urgency, even as they seek to reassure students and parents that a crisis is unlikely and that federal student loans will still be available this fall. In the…

Buried in a spending measure passed by the U.S. House of Representatives is a provision that could thwart Republican efforts to scuttle legislation designed to bolster the federal direct-loan program. The provision, which appears on the final page of the House's spending blueprint for the 2008 fiscal year, simply instructs the House education…

An expanding investigation into conflicts of interest in the student-loan industry continued to sweep up more lenders and college financial-aid administrators last week. The nation's largest student-loan provider, Sallie Mae, accepted a $2-million settlement with New York State's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and three more college officials…

The ever-expanding investigation into conflicts of interest between colleges and lenders continued to claim victims last week as two more universities settled with New York State's attorney general, and another fired its financial-aid director. Drexel University, the only institution that had said it would fight allegations over its student-loan…

Colleges would be required to give students information to help them shop around among loan providers under proposed changes in student-loan programs announced by the U.S. Department of Education. The proposed regulations represent the department's most significant response to date to the continuing controversy over conflicts of interest in the…

It took five years, dozens of drafts, and a total of 14 extensions, but Congress last week was finally on the verge of passing a bill to renew the Higher Education Act, the major law governing federal student aid. The bill, after approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, was headed to the Senate, where a final vote was planned for late last…

The Senate education committee approved a pair of bills that would reduce government subsidies to student-loan companies, increase student aid, and set higher-education policy for the next five years. The Senate's budget-reconciliation measure would use the savings derived from reducing subsidies to student-loan companies to pay down a portion of…

In December 2005, purchasing agents at Florida International University issued a request for proposals seeking banks and student-loan companies for a list of "preferred lenders" that the university planned to give to prospective borrowers. The request alone was not unusual. Many colleges use competitive bidding to secure attractive terms…

This article talks about the plan of Bush's administration to end the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program and focus on the broader goal with increased access to college for underrepresented groups and not spend their time protecting inefficient programs. During the annual meeting of the American Council on Education, the new under…