Aug 23, 2007

Thursday, August 23 , 2007 Spellings Urges Colleges and Lenders to Comply with New Loan Rules By Amit Agarwal U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings sent out letters to colleges, universities, lenders, and guarantee agencies that participate in the federal guaranteed student loan program. The letters urge them to work together on the principles of the new regulations that the department proposed in June. However, the regulations, in light of the congressional "sunshine" acts and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's code of conduct, will not be effective until July 2008. In a conference call with reporters, Spellings stated that the letter urged for: Full disclosure of information about loans to parents and students and disclosure of criteria used in the selection of preferred lenders No acceptance any kind of gifts or benefits from lenders in exchange for being included on schools' preferred lenders lists  read more Nelnet Receives Double Whammy: Will pay $1 Million Settlement to Joe Bruning in Addition to Original $2 Billion Settlement By Nihit Aurora Nelnet is a leading student loans company in the United States that has diversified business interests in student loan generation, loan servicing, secondary market activities, and guarantor servicing. With offices located all over North America, it believes in making educational dreams possible for students across the United States. With around $26.2 billion in assets and $6 billion in origination volume, Nelnet is the second-largest loans consolidator in the country. Moreover, it is the third largest holder of Federal Family Education Loan Program loans.  read more Senate confirms Diane Auer Jones as assistant secretary for postsecondary education Diane Auer Jones has been confirmed by the Senate as assistant secretary for postsecondary education in the U.S. Department of Education. Jones will serve as the principal adviser to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on departmental issues pertaining to developing postsecondary education policies and legislative proposals. Prior to the appointment, Jones served the Department of Education as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education, a post she took over in May 2007. Before joining the Department of Education, she served as deputy to the associate director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. Three Michigan schools say their loan practices are legitimate Responding to the letter sent by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to more than 900 colleges that have 80% or more of their student loans with a single lender, three Michigan schools have defended their student loan practices. Michigan State University College of Law, Alma College, and Lawrence Technological University claim that private lenders provide them with better deals than they would receive from federal student loan programs and that there is nothing wrong with the fact that most of their students use the same lender. Nineteen Michigan schools were included on the list of 921 schools that were allegedly dominated by a single loan provider.  read more To ensure that the Graduate School Loans Newswire is delivered to your Inbox, please add registration@graduateschoolloans.com to your address book. © 2007 Graduate School Loans. All rights reserved. Office: 175 South Lake Avenue, Suite 200, Pasadena, CA 91101