December 18, 2007

Treasury Report Finds Direct-Loan Program Saves U.S. Money Over Guaranteed Student Loans. Or Does It?

By Paul Basken

Washington

An annual Treasury Department report issued on Monday appears to show that the federal direct-loan program, in which the government lends money directly to students through their colleges, is not only cheaper than the more popular bank-based guaranteed-student-loan program but that it also actually returns money to the federal government.

Or, the report may be just another inconclusive set of numbers to be thrown onto the mounting heap of data used by both lenders and student