Stephen Burd: All Publications, Events and Press

Stephen Burd in St. Petersburg Times | 'Castor Seeks Checkups on College Lenders'

Communications — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:47:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Experts say Castor's proposed changes [to the federal student loan industry] are sorely needed, and could be made without putting an undue burden on government regulators...

Such fixes would be a "common-sense solution" to lax oversight by the federal government, said Stephen Burd, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation...LINK

Steve Burd in Reuters | "U.S. Student Loan Bill Advances, Bush Will Sign"

Communications — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:

. . . Stephen Burd, senior research fellow at think tank New America Foundation, said some lenders were having financing problems. "We just don't think the government should let the loan industry define the terms of the intervention." . . . For the complete article, go to Reuters.com.

Steve Burd in U.S. News | Look Twice at Loan Advice

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:13:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Look Twice at Loan Advice (U.S. News & World Report)

. . . Stephen Burd, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, says many colleges are affordable without the help of private loans at all. Plus, Burd adds, federal loans also are due only after graduation, and the subsidized ones don't accrue interest while students are still in school, as most private loans do—a fact not mentioned in the ads. . .

Steve Burd in CQ Weekly | "In Student Loan Market, A Direct Approach"

Communications — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:51:00 -0400

New America in the News:

In Student Loan Market, A Direct Approach (CQ Weekly)

. . . But private lenders who need help face a dilemma. "Lenders are sort of putting themselves in this weird spot, where on the one hand they're raising huge alarms on the viability of their program, and on the other hand are trying to make sure they don't scare schools into the direct loan program," said Steven Burd, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation. more

Stephen Burd of New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch.Org Blog Receives National Education Reporting Award for Investigating

Communications — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:11:00 -0500

Higher Ed Watch.Org's staff writer and a lead investigator on the 2007 student loan scandals, Stephen Burd, is the winner of a 2007 National Award for Education Reporting, the Education Writers Association announced on Monday. Burd is a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation's Education Policy Program and a former Senior Writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Burd's two award winning articles from April 2007 appear here on the Higher Ed Watch.Org Blog.

"The student loan 'pay for play' scandal, which Higher Ed Watch.Org and Steve Burd broke, is a perfect example of the way in which new media expert blogs are becoming for newspapers what newspapers long have been for television news - content drivers," said Michael Dannenberg, Director of the Education Policy Program at New America Foundation.

Higher Ed Watch.Org provides news, analysis, commentary, and new ideas on issues of college access, affordability and quality. Burd's prize-winning blog articles from April lay out the findings of the blog's month-long investigation into improper payoffs made by a student loan company to college financial aid officers and a key U.S. Department of Education official.

These articles, which were widely picked up throughout the news media, prompted the firings and resignations of three financial aid directors and the three top executives at the loan company Student Loan Xpress, more than a dozen federal and state investigations, and a series of multi-million dollar settlements. They also played a significant role in galvanizing support for a sweeping reevaluation of the relationship between colleges and financial institutions, and of the implications these arrangements have for students.

In the story, "Inside the Cuomo Probe," published on July 31, 2007, Inside Higher Ed, an authoritative online source of news on higher education, credited the Higher Ed Watch Blog's reporting for having "turned the tide" in favor of efforts to reform the guaranteed loan program. "The findings of personal wrongdoing by some of the leading lights in the financial aid world added a sensational and tangible element to the student loan investigation," the publication noted. "While talking about 'preferred lender lists' can make some eyes glaze over, people understand 'cash and stock payments.'"

The New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch blog's writers continue to post frequently on the topic of student loans. In addition to the Higher Ed Watch blog, the New America Foundation's Education Policy Program also runs an Early Ed Watch.Org blog and Ed Policy Watch.Org blog. For more information visit HigherEdWatch.Org.

Please direct media inquiries to Erin Drankoski, 202-997-8727, Drankoski@newamerica.net.

About New America's Education Policy Program

New America's Education Policy Program focuses on closing multiple educational achievement and opportunity gaps by highlighting ways to improve equity, access, and affordability in education from pre-kindergarten throughcollege. Experts in the program's Federal Education Budget Project include former employees with the Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Education Budget Service, and Congress' education and budget committees, both Democratic and Republican staff.

New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, post-partisan public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of our nation's public discourse. Relying on a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. Headquartered in our nation's capital, New America also has offices in California and New York. More information is available at www.newamerica.net.

Stephen Burd in Pittsburg Post-Gazette | 'Market Doubts Hit Private Student Loans'

Communications — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:29:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Market Doubts Hit Private Student Loans (Pittsburg Post-Gazette) ...Sallie Mae and others are experiencing a growing default rate. The sub-prime mortgage crunch has spilled over into the student loan area, too, with investors less willing to buy loans of different kinds, said Stephen Burd, senior research fellow at New America Foundation, a nonprofit think tank. "It's just a question of securitization right now," Mr. Burd said. ...

Steve Burd in St. Louis Post-Dispatch | 'Loans Feeling Credit Crunch'

Communications — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:59:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Student loans feeling credit crunch, too (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Those students, though, paid interest rates of up to 20 percent to finance their educational dreams. Stephen Burd, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who blogs about higher education, says the lending practices got out of hand. "We actually think that this is a positive development that subprime lending in for-profit education is being curtailed, because we don't think students should have been stuck with these high-interest, high-cost… more

Subprime Mess Reaches Higher Ed

Education Policy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:51:00 -0500

Policymakers and journalists, don't be fooled by the Career College Association's spin. Sallie Mae's decision last week to stop engaging in subprime student lending at some of the most scandal-ridden chains of for-profit colleges is good news for low-income and working class students, not bad.

For years, Sallie Mae and some other lenders have "partnered" with giant publicly-traded, for-profit higher education companies to provide high-cost private student loans, with interest… more

Too Little, But Not Too Late

Education Policy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:28:00 -0500

In approximately three weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up legislation that would impose new restrictions on the relationships between colleges and student loan companies. While the effort is to be applauded, the legislation could go much further in eliminating the types of "pay for play" conflicts of interest in the student loan program that have caused so much controversy over the last year.

Even more explicitly than more

Sallie Mae's Blame Game

Education Policy — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:50:00 -0500

When student loan giant Sallie Mae announced on Monday that it was removing Al Lord, the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), from his position as Executive Chairman of the board a little more than a month after he took the job, it went to great lengths to portray the move as business as usual. But investors, financial analysts, and the news media weren't buying it. The fact Sallie Mae had handed control of its… more

Rewriting History at the Department of Education

Education Policy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:49:00 -0500

Top officials at the U.S. Department of Education continue to repeat the company line that they were ahead of the curve in coming to grips with and confronting the burgeoning "pay for play" student loan scandal -- despite all evidence to the contrary.

In an interview with Higher Education Washington Inc, (HEWI) a publication owned and run by a top student loan industry lobbyist, the Education Department's… more

Easing Restrictions on Trade Schools is a Mistake

Education Policy — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:39:00 -0500

Last month, federal agents raided the campuses of three for-profit colleges around Fort Lauderdale, including one owned by Corinthian Colleges, which is among the largest trade school chains in the country. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General, which led the raids with the help of the FBI and local officials, would not comment on the investigation, but according to news reports, the agents carted away boxes of documents, including ones labeled "financial aid" and "student… more

Questions Colleges Need to Answer

Education Policy — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:00:00 -0500

With Congress providing a significant increase in Pell Grant aid, federal lawmakers have some pressing questions to ask colleges about how they spend their institutional aid dollars. Will colleges use the influx of Pell Grant dollars to supplement their aid and insure that low-income students don’t have unmet financial need and therefore won’t have to take on unmanageable levels of debt? Or will they use the new federal funding to replace institutional aid dollars they would… more

USA Today Quotes Stephen Burd on Private and Federal Loans

Communications — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Student loans are often categorized as good debt, because a college education is considered a sensible long-term investment. ...

But it's important to understand that not all student loans are alike. Federally guaranteed student loans, known as Stafford loans, have fixed interest rates, now 6.8%, and flexible repayment terms. Any full-time college student, regardless of family income, can take out a Stafford loan.

Private student loans, which are often offered by the same lenders that provide federal loans, are more… more

Private Loan Volume

Education Policy — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:22:00 -0400

The growth in private student loan borrowing slowed considerably last year according to the College Board, but that’s hardly reason to celebrate. Private loan borrowing continues to escalate at alarming rates for undergraduate students, and much of the debt is being taken on by students who can least afford it.

Overall, students borrowed $18.5 billion in private loans from for profit companies and state nonprofit lenders in the 2006-07 academic… more

Selling Out Students to Sallie Mae

Education Policy — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:14:00 -0400

Yesterday, we praised colleges that have resisted lenders’ efforts to use open government laws to get personal data about their students for marketing purposes. Unfortunately, not all higher education institutions are as vigilant in protecting the privacy of their students’ information. Case in point: the University of Miami.

According to excellent reporting in the St. Petersburg Times, many University of Miami incoming freshmen were surprised this summer when… more

Sallie Mae Scooped Us

Education Policy — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:27:00 -0400

Last week, Higher Ed Watch revealed that Sallie Mae had filed a New York Freedom of Information Law request asking community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system to provide the company with contact information for their students. After posting that item, we learned that the loan giant -- which actively markets private loans directly to students -- had made a similar state open record request to public colleges in Pennsylvania [see request… more

Stephen Burd in St. Petersburg Times on Univ. of Miami Sharing Data

Communications — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:06:00 -0400

New America in the News:

University of Miami officials have confirmed they sent students' private data to lender Sallie Mae last summer, even though students said they never applied for a federal loan from the company.

In the school's view, students did apply for a loan when they filled out the standard form all students submit to establish eligibility, financial aid director James Bauer said.

But national experts scoffed at that interpretation of federal privacy and lending laws, saying receipt of the Free Application for Federal… more

NEWS SCOOP: Sallie Mae Demands SUNY Colleges Turn Over Students' Personal Data

Education Policy — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:34:00 -0400

Lenders that market private loans directly to students are increasingly using state open government laws to demand public colleges turn over personal data on their students.

Late last month, student loan giant Sallie Mae filed a New York Freedom of Information Law request asking community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system to provide the company with the names, telephone numbers, and home mailing and e-mail addresses of… more

Replace the SAT

Education Policy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:01:00 -0400

In August, the College Board announced that for the first time since the early 1990s average SAT scores in reading and math had declined two years in a row. The announcement caused hand wringing in the news media and among pundits. Have students’ scores dropped because the new and expanded SAT exam is too lengthy and demanding? Could the decline be attributed to the increasing numbers of low-income and minority students taking the test,… more