Student Loans

The New America Foundation's Stephen Burd has been investigating the for-profit college industry for The Washington Monthly and joins us with more on what ...

... so your life isn't ruined even if you fail out,” says Stephen Burd, editor of the New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch blog. ...

At the age of forty-three, Martine Leveque decided it was time to start over. For several years, she had worked in the movie business, writing subtitles in Italian and French for English-language films, but her employer moved overseas. She then tried her hand at sales, but each time the economy dipped sales tumbled, along with her income, and as a single mother with a teenage son, she wanted a job that offered more security. She decided to pursue a career in nursing, a high-demand field where she… more

According to the New America Foundation, government-backed loans account for about 70 percent of federal student aid, while grants comprise approximately 20 percent. ... Original Article

The public-private arrangement made sense 40 years ago when the government needed local banks to handle lending across the country, said Jason Delisle of the New America Foundation, a nonprofit policy institute. Changes in technology and regulations have since it possible for the government to lend directly. ... Original Article

Firing back at the Republicans, Jason Delisle wrote in Higher Ed Watch, a blog at the New America Foundation, that the revised CBO estimate at the very least confirms that direct lending is significantly cheaper than the FFEL program, even if by a smaller margin than first thought. Delisle, who supports Miller’s bill, was formerly a Republican staffer on the Senate Budget Committee. ... Original Article

"The student-loan industry is as close as you can get to letting industry set their own subsidy rates," says Jason Delisle, a veteran Republican budget staffer who now directs the Federal Education Budget Project for the nonpartisan New America Foundation. "Congress was writing these subsides into law, and the lobbyists encourage them to make it as high as possible." ... Original Article

... and pocket the difference all day,” says Jason Delisle, director of the Federal Education Budget Project at the New America Foundation. ...