The Star-Ledger

U.S. Budget Watch in the Star-Ledger | 'In Race for President, Economy Passes War and Health Care as Key Issue'

Articles — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:07:00 -0400

New America in the News:
By 2013, the cuts identified by McCain would save up to $254 billion, while Obama's would save $144 billion, projects US Budget Watch, a nonpartisan research group. In either case, economists say, the cuts would hardly compensate for new initiatives. LINK

Len Nichols in NJ Star-Ledger | It's Hard to Beat Generic as Drugs Come Off Patent, Major Firms Feel Pinch

Communications — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:25:00 -0500

New America in the News:

NJ Star-Ledger | It's Hard to Beat Generic as Drugs Come Off Patent, Major Firms Feel Pinch

. . . Len Nichols, director of health policy for the New America Foundation, said with many big revenue producers going generic and the innovative pipeline of breakthrough pharmaceuticals slowing, the major drugmakers are feeling the pinch.

"The question for the longer run is how we balance the desire to pay as little as possible for our medicines while still providing the incentives for drugmakers to innovate new compounds that might enhance clinical value and improve the public health going forward," Nichols said.

"Historically, the pharmaceutical companies used very high prices from their monopoly drugs to finance research and development," he said. . .

The Star-Ledger Quotes Stephen Burd on Bribery and Student Loans

Communications — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:25:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A state agency broke federal regulations when it received millions of dollars in improper payments from companies that make student loans and offered colleges enticements to promote those lenders, according to a national report released yesterday.

Amid the massive student loan scandal, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy made public a committee report criticizing a deal between two lenders, Sallie Mae and Nelnet, and the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority. The report also unveiled more marketing misconduct among colleges, lenders and alumni associations across the country.

Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the findings "underscore the urgent need for reform of the student loan system."

On the same day the Senate committee report came out, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced a code of conduct barring state colleges and universities from having financial relation ships with student loan providers.

Unknown to borrowers, lenders were making donations to colleges and offering special private loan funds for certain students as a way to get schools to steer loan appli cants to them. Critics have said those practices may have prevented students from getting the best deal on their loans.

Loan industry watchdogs also have said rules prohibiting induce ments and revenue-sharing ar rangements are clear and the federal Department of Education should take responsibility, investigate and sanction offenders.

"This is another example of how the department has failed to regulate the student loan industry," Steve Burd of the New America Foundation said yesterday. In addi tion to the New Jersey contracts, Kennedy's report unveiled "evidence of bribes offered by banks and shakedowns by colleges" in other parts of the country, he said...

For the complete article, please visit The Star-Ledger (NJ) web site.

Star-Ledger Quotes Stephen Burd on Student Loans, Lenders

Communications — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:08:00 -0400

New America in the News:

As families wade through college financial aid options this month, they will find the path to a degree is paved with perilous debt.

With rising tuition and fees, students have increasingly turned to government and private loans over the past decade, with graduates owing an average of $20,000.

The borrowing frenzy has helped fuel deceptive practices among private lenders and colleges that put students and parents at risk of making poor financial choices, say law enforcement officials and education experts.

The $85 billion student loan industry has come under intense scrutiny in the past few months. Much of the heat is coming from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose widening probe has revealed dozens of universities have accepted financial incentives from lenders.

An "unholy alliance" exists between lenders and colleges, Cuomo said. His investigation found lenders paying kickbacks to colleges for steering students to them by putting the companies on "preferred lender lists," as well as financial aid officials accepting gifts from lenders, including trips to high-end resorts...

Steve Burd of the New America Foundation, a nonprofit think tank that uncovered the stock arrangements, said the discoveries are "alarming."

"Students are looking for impartial advice, and the hint that there's self-interest on the part of any financial aid officer is troubling," Burd said...

For the complete article, please visit The Star-Ledger website.