The Sallie Mae agent trying to collect on defaulted loans held by college borrowers doesn’t need a college degree. See here and here. It’s worth keeping in mind when considering the jobs saved by preventing student loan reform versus the ones that could be obtained by the roughly one million additional students receiving an expanded [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'Sallie Mae'
Can Reform Solve Federal Student Loan Conflicts of Interest?
Media coverage of pending legislation to eliminate subsidies for bank-based federal student loans and redirect savings into the Pell Grant Program has recently focused on the fierce lobbying effort made by Sallie Mae and other lenders to get the U.S. Senate to accept their own reform proposal–an alternative that saves less money while also keeping [...]
9.5 Scandal Makes its Way to Sallie Mae
While cost and increased aid for low-income students have rightfully dominated the discussion of the proposal to end subsidies for private lenders making federal student loans, it’s worth remembering that terminating the bank-based system would also help return integrity to a system with an ever-growing history of scandal and abuse.
Case in point, an audit report [...]
A Fox Guarding The Hen House
Paul Basken’s article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education does a great job of laying out the conflicts of interest and perverse incentives in the student loan industry that can lead to unsavory business practices.
As the article describes, a former Sallie Mae employee has filed a lawsuit alleging that the company engaged in fraudulent debt [...]
Giving an Inch?
In a rare moment these days, Bush administration officials and Congress are being applauded for their quick and measured response to problems (or, more accurately, the threat of problems) with student loan availability. Spurring lawmakers along was a looming Sallie Mae conference call with college officials, in which some speculated that Sallie Mae–the nation’s largest [...]
History Repeating Itself
Congress, the White House, presidential candidates, and student loan companies have all proposed ideas on how to ensure that recent problems in the credit markets don’t limit college-bound students’ access to federal loan money. Tight credit markets, in which investors are wary of buying any type of bundled debt, have made it difficult for student [...]
Life After Sallie
There have been numerous news reports of the “tightening” credit markets and their potential impact on student loan availability. The majority of federal student loans are made through private banks and if these banks can’t find investors to buy their loans, they don’t have money to make new loans—hence, a problem with student loan availability [...]
And Missing a Few Other Things…
Per Kevin’s post below, a few notes on today’s Washington Post article on student loans in today’s volatile credit markets:
The Post, unlike some other publications, made an effort in this piece to distinguish between federal loans, those guaranteed by the federal government and that carry a fixed interest rate, and private loans, which are completely [...]
Subprime Student Loans?
Last Thursday, Sallie Mae announced a $1.6 billion loss—a bad day capping the end of a bad year for the company. Sallie Mae also announced that it would be cutting back on loans to nontraditional schools, especially schools with low graduation rates. Echoing the sentiments of banks who bet too much money on bad real [...]
When Loans Aren’t Financial Aid
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good article today about a new Senate bill (S1561) that seeks to make private student loan debt dischargeable in bankruptcy. According to the article, Sallie Mae and other for-profit loan companies have signed off on the legislation—perhaps realizing that this is a battle not worth fighting in light [...]
The Debate over Student Loan Auctions
At the Higher Education Finance Working Group policy briefing yesterday, the discussion, in true financial aid style, was lively, a little snarky**, and, at times, thoroughly confusing. One area where it did shed some light was the debate over loan auctions in the federal loan program (Inside Higher Ed writes it up here).
In the current [...]
New House Bill’s Right on the Money
Like many college students across the country, I dread the fateful summer day where I receive the ominous “Financial Aid Award Letter” email in my inbox. Too often have I experienced Homer Simpson-esque “Doh!” moments as I count the ever-increasing loan amounts listed by my name.
Well fret no more (or at the very least, fret [...]
Big Lending Speaks
Today’s Washington Post business section has a front-page article discussing big lending’s efforts to fend off proposed cuts to student loan subsidies. Two thoughts:
First, Sallie Mae and its fellow big-lenders need to move on from trying to sway policy through lobbying pushes, public relations campaigns, and campaign contributions. Instead, it’s time they propose some policy [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/11/10 | Kevin Carey is quoted on the rising costs of education in The Economist.
03/10/10 | Chad Aldeman's False Fronts paper is quoted on Accuracy in Academia.
03/09/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on Federal Family Education Loan defaults on The Huffington Post.
03/09/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on loan origination on the Firedog Lake blog.
03/07/10 | Kevin Carey calls for a Race to the Top in higher education in a column in The Chronicle of Higher Education.