Submitted by Education Policy (not verified) on April 11, 2008 - 3:01pm.
We stand by our post.
The point of our post was not to question the private college association's organizational motives in publishing their survey on the credit crunch. NAICU should report to policymakers what is happening at their institutions. Our point is that policymakers should be concerned that many non-profit private colleges, just like many proprietary schools, have entered into sweetheart deals with lenders like Sallie Mae in order to get easy access for their students to high cost, private loans. Is that good public policy for low-income student access? Or has it made it too easy for schools to push financially-needy students into taking out loans they may not be able to afford? What percentage of low income students at each private college and proprietary school default on private student loans?
The private colleges' association argues that the association is working hard to get Congress to crack down on direct-to-consumer private student loans that take place outside the lender-school channel. That's a channel we would point out that has been abused by many schools. Regardless, it's a different issue. Has the private college association taken any position on colleges including expensive private loans in the financial aid packages they offer students? Has it encouraged its members to halt the practice? Not that we've heard, but we're open to being informed otherwise.
As always, we welcome a good-spirited, public debate and the comments of all. Thank you for your readership.
Response
We stand by our post.
The point of our post was not to question the private college association's organizational motives in publishing their survey on the credit crunch. NAICU should report to policymakers what is happening at their institutions. Our point is that policymakers should be concerned that many non-profit private colleges, just like many proprietary schools, have entered into sweetheart deals with lenders like Sallie Mae in order to get easy access for their students to high cost, private loans. Is that good public policy for low-income student access? Or has it made it too easy for schools to push financially-needy students into taking out loans they may not be able to afford? What percentage of low income students at each private college and proprietary school default on private student loans?
The private colleges' association argues that the association is working hard to get Congress to crack down on direct-to-consumer private student loans that take place outside the lender-school channel. That's a channel we would point out that has been abused by many schools. Regardless, it's a different issue. Has the private college association taken any position on colleges including expensive private loans in the financial aid packages they offer students? Has it encouraged its members to halt the practice? Not that we've heard, but we're open to being informed otherwise.
As always, we welcome a good-spirited, public debate and the comments of all. Thank you for your readership.