
Student loan reforms?
You might have heard that Sallie Mae the nation's biggest college lender has agreed to be bought for $25 billion. If you're wondering like the millions of people with loans through Sallie Mae---and Sallie Mae handles $140 billion worth of college loans—you may be wondering what this take over means for you.
The short answer is probably not much. The terms of any loan agreement you signed will remain in force. And your monthly payments won't change just because of this takeover. What you can expect to change however is the entire student loan industry based on a number of factors
One, state and federal regulators are increasingly scrutinizing the $85 billion a year student loan universe. In New York for example, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating dozens of schools to find out whether or not colleges are receiving "kick backs" from preferred lenders to refer students to those lenders. While Cuomo's investigation is ongoing he's already secured settlement from Sallie Mae, Citibank, and more than three dozen schools all of whom say that they will change the way that they will handle student loans. Sallie Mae and Citibank have also agreed to pay millions to help educate students about the college loan industry.
On the national front the Democrats are talking seriously about revamping the student loan business. This year, they've agreed to slash the maximum rate on federal Stafford loans by half from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over five years. Now there's talk of raising the limits for Pell grants, which go to the neediest college students.
Also congress is looking into whether or not it should change an existing policy that allows banks and other college lenders to make guaranteed student loans.
Ultimately, I expect to see a slew of fairly sweeping reforms mainly because there is growing recognition that we have a student loan crisis in this country. It's sad when students are told go to school get your degree that's the path way to a better job and a better life. Only to get out of school with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt some times reaching into the six figures. Something needs to be done sooner rather than later.











