April 16, 2008

Education Department Plans 'Emergency Survey' of Colleges' Student-Loan Plans

Washington — Each time a student-loan company announces its withdrawal from the system of federally guaranteed student loans, the Education Department checks with the colleges using that lender to be sure their students have other loan options. So far, more than 50 lenders have left.

And each time, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has assured colleges, there’s been no indication that students wouldn’t be able to find another lender.

Now the department is planning a more comprehensive way of asking the question. According to a notice published today in the Federal Register, the Education Department is planning an “emergency survey” of the financial-aid administrators at all 4,500 colleges participating in the bank-based system of federally guaranteed student loans.

The survey will ask the aid administrators to confirm that they have secured lenders throughout the 2008-9 academic year, and to provide a list of those lenders, the department said in its notice. “The purpose of the survey is to ensure continued access to federal loans by monitoring any problems that institutions may be experiencing in accessing” government-backed student loans, the department said.

At least 57 student-loan companies have announced in recent weeks that they will no longer participate in the government’s student-loan program, due to a combination of cuts in the federal subsidy rates and the tightening of credit in the commercial marketplace stemming from a surge in mortgage defaults.

The Education Department is planning its survey at the same time it is taking steps to create a “lender of last resort” program, in what Ms. Spellings has described as the unlikely event that large numbers of students cannot find a willing lender. —Paul Basken

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