Direct Student Loans: Selected Characteristics of Participating Schools
(Testimony, 03/30/95, GAO/T-HEHS-95-123).

Federal student loan programs have provided billions of dollars in
financial aid to postsecondary education students during the past 25
years, but problems have continually plagued the programs.  For example,
the guaranteed student loan program has experienced high student loan
defaults and lacks the accurate and timely information required for
sound management decisions. These problems are attributed to a complex
and costly program structure involving thousands of lenders, guaranty
agencies, and other participants.  To overcome these problems, Congress
created the direct student loan program.  In the program's first year,
102 postsecondary schools were participating, representing five percent
of fiscal year 1991 student loan volume.  Participating schools are very
satisfied with the Education Department's implementation of the direct
loan program. For schools selected for the program's second year, as of
March 1995 the aggregate loan volume is short of that year's 40-percent
goal.  Part of this shortfall may be due to uncertainty about the future
of the direct loan program.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HEHS-95-123
     TITLE:  Direct Student Loans: Selected Characteristics of 
             Participating Schools
      DATE:  03/30/95
   SUBJECT:  Direct loans
             Student loans
             Financial aid programs
             Government guaranteed loans
             Loan defaults
             Cost control
             Proposed legislation
             Colleges/universities
             Higher education
IDENTIFIER:  National Direct Student Loan Program
             Guaranteed Student Loan Program
             Federal Family Education Loan Program
             
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