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Student Loan Stress

Companies that securitize student loans are asking the federal government for help. NBR correspondent Stephanie Dhue explains why some financial experts support more subsidies for student loans and other experts say additional government involvement is not needed.



Discuss this story on XChange - The NBR Blog.

Related NBR Stories & Links

• 04-15-08: The Subprime Mortgage Mess Threatens Student Loans
• 12-28-07: The Credit Crisis & Student Loans
• 04-16-07: Sallie Mae Goes Private
• 01-17-07: "XChange, the NBR Blog" - Will an Interest Rate Cap Bring Students Real Relief?

External Links/Articles*

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
  Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is and investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector. The firm's specialty finance analyst, Sameer Gokhale, is interviewed in Stephanie Dhue's report.
• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) (PDF)
  NASFAA is a nonprofit organizations that represents financial aid professionals in the U.S. This links to a NASFAA fact sheet titled, "The Credit Crunch and Student Loans: Don't React Before Getting the Facts." The sheet, published in March 2008, is designed to answer the questions of concerned student loan applicants.
• Sallie Mae
  Sallie Mae is a provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans. As Stephanie Dhue explains in her report, the company wants the U.S. Treasury Department to buy some of the student loans it securitzes. This links to an April 16, 2008 press release issued by the firm. The release is titled, "Salle Mae Reports First-Quarter 2008 Results."
• U.S. Department of Treasury
  This links to a discussion of agency securities, including student loan securities, presented in the "FAQs" section of the U.S. Department of Treasury website.
• U.S. Public Interst Research Group (U.S. PIRG)
  U.S. PIRG lobbies for issues in the public interest. The organization's higher education advocate, Luke Swarthout, is interviewed in Stephanie Dhue's report. This links to the "Higher Education Project" section of the U.S. PIRG website.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.