Congress' student loan reform will hurt families

Palm Beach Post Editorial Letters
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The editorial "It's student loan reform that will help students" (Wednesday) is quite right that rising college costs are a serious problem but quite wrong to ask - in "Do you still beat your wife?" fashion - "How badly have private lenders been fleecing college students?" That and the use of such loaded words as fleecing and gouging is unfair and unwarranted.

Despite all the marketing activities that have turned up in recent months, no one has demonstrated whether and how much any student has been harmed financially. That's probably because even preferred lenders under question usually offered competitive, if not the best, terms and service.
Moreover, only a small fraction of schools and lenders were involved - around 40 schools and lenders out of 6,000 schools and 3,500 lenders. The casting of aspersions on all lenders is not supported by the facts.
The deep cuts passed by Congress and supported by the editorial punish the industry but ultimately will harm the families we serve. They virtually will eliminate the already narrow margin made by lenders on federal student loans, according to the Congressional Research Service, Mark Kantrowitz of www.finaid.org, and several industry analysts.

Millions of families in Florida and around the country will pay dearly for it - in terms of higher loan costs, fewer choices, less service, less convenience and more defaults.

KEVIN BRUNS,
executive director, America's Student Loan Providers
Washington

Editor's note: America's Student Loan Providers represents hundreds of leading providers of higher education financing that administer federally guaranteed student loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, a public-private partnership. Its Web site is www.aslp.us
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