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Obama budget seeks control of federal student loans

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the student loan program subsidizing private lenders is “on life support.” (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Alejandro Lazo And Maria Glod Washington Post

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has proposed a sweeping change in the $85 billion-a-year student loan industry, one that could fundamentally alter the business of lenders such as Sallie Mae.

The proposal, included in Thursday’s budget outline, would end a program that pays government subsidies to private student loan companies. The administration said the shift, which would mean that all federal loans would come directly through the government, would save $4 billion annually and $47.5 billion over the next decade.

The changes could be a blow to companies such as Sallie Mae of Reston, Va., that receive subsidies to originate federally backed student loans. Shares of Sallie Mae, formally known as SLM Corp., plunged on the news.

The profitability of the student loan industry has faltered in recent years, first as Congress cut subsidies and then because of turmoil in the credit markets.

Last year, dozens of lenders stopped issuing federally guaranteed loans, prompting concerns about whether students would get the money they needed for college. The Bush administration took several steps to shore up student lenders.

On Thursday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan signaled a shift from that approach, saying the program that subsidizes private lenders is “on life support.”

“Rather than continuing to subsidize banks, we want to help dramatically more students get more access to more aid,” Duncan said in a conference call with reporters. “Big picture  …  We’re going to save about $24 billion over the next five years, and we want to actively invest that money in our students.”

Since the early 1990s, federal student loans have been implemented through two programs. The program that the administration proposes ending, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, uses private-sector lenders such as Sallie Mae and Citigroup to originate and service the education loans, keeping the debt off the government’s books.

Under this program, the government pays a subsidy to private lenders. Congress sets the interest rate on loans, and the federal government covers nearly all the losses if a student defaults.

The other program, Direct Loan, is administered by the government and includes student loan debt in the government’s deficit. Under the proposal, this program would handle all federal loans.

The approach outlined last week echoes one long favored by Democrats. House Education Committee Chairman Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who has been a vocal critic of what he has called “corrupt practices” in the student loan industry, said the proposal was a “solid plan to make federal student loans more reliable while saving taxpayers billions of dollars.”

But there’s already been pushback from Republicans. Rep. Howard P. McKeon of California, ranking Republican on the House Education Committee, lashed out against the proposed shift, calling it a “government takeover of the private-sector-based student loan program, taking away options and benefits from students while adding tens of billions” of dollars to the deficit.

Under the administration’s proposal, the private sector wouldn’t be completely cut out of the equation. The Education Department would contract with companies to service loans and collect payments.

Officials said they expected some companies that now participate in the loan program to take part in a competitive process to service the loans.