Thursday, Dec. 4,2008 12:03 a.m.
If the progression of industries begging the Department of the Treasury
for bailouts has left you increasingly unsympathetic, consider these
people the icing on the cake: the ones you’ll be indebted to for 20
years after you graduate.
In a recent change to the Treasury’s bailout bill, the government has
announced that part of the money will be used to guarantee consumer
lending in order to stimulate spending in the economy. Among possible
candidates were private student lenders, more than 60 of which have, in
recent months, ceased offering loans.
The possibility has ignited a heated debate among education circles as
to whether the decision places the interests of students at heart. Some
wonder whether the money could be better placed. And while the
Secretary of Education has already indicated that she will bolster
federal loans, some feel that private loans should receive no
assistance, or that any bailout package given to private lenders should
include more stringent guidelines to benefit students.
Critics, such as the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and
Admissions Officers, American Association of State Colleges and
Universities and half a dozen similar groups recently sent a letter to
the Secretary of Treasury urging his department to reconsider. Their
concern is understandable – just last year, a massive scandal broke
over conflict of interest between university financial aid departments
and private lenders, especially notable since it’s many of the same
groups implicated in last year’s scandal that are now cheering the
Treasury’s decision.
