2009.03.30: March 30, 2009: Headlines: Student Loans: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: The Reporter : Rep. Tom Petri says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Somalia: Special Report: Tom Petri: Tom Petri: Newest Stories: 2009.03.30: March 30, 2009: Headlines: Student Loans: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: The Reporter : Rep. Tom Petri says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.48.150) on Saturday, April 11, 2009 - 4:13 pm: Edit Post

Rep. Tom Petri says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests

Rep. Tom Petri says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has determined that President Obama's proposal to end the guaranteed student loan program and instead encourage students to take out identical loans through the Direct Loan Program would save the government $94 billion over ten years. "I started working on the Direct Loan Program some 20 years ago at the suggestion of financial aid experts in the state of Wisconsin, got it adopted as an experimental program at Marquette and a number of other colleges around the country, worked with President Clinton to expand it nationwide, and now it looks as though it may become either the only or the leading way of providing assistance to the people who want to go to college," Petri said. "I think that is going to be a wonderful day for both taxpayers and for students to see this program become the dominant federal aid program in the student area." Congressman Tom Petri of Wisconsin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia in the 1960's.

Rep. Tom Petri says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests

Change in student loan program would save billions, CBO says

For The Reporter • March 30, 2009

WASHINGTON - The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has determined that President Obama's proposal to end the guaranteed student loan program and instead encourage students to take out identical loans through the Direct Loan Program would save the government $94 billion over ten years.

Rep. Tom Petri, in a press release, says he feels vindicated for his advocacy of direct lending over 20 years, despite determined attacks on his position by special interests.

"That's a fantastic amount, and it illustrates how rich the subsidies were to the financial institutions which participated in the student loan program, and why they fought tooth and nail to keep the guarantee program going," Petri said.

Currently, there are two types of federal student loan programs: the Direct Loan Program through which loans are made directly to students by the government; and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, with "guaranteed" loans made by private lenders but with the government guaranteeing that those lenders will get most of their money back.

"I started working on the Direct Loan Program some 20 years ago at the suggestion of financial aid experts in the state of Wisconsin, got it adopted as an experimental program at Marquette and a number of other colleges around the country, worked with President Clinton to expand it nationwide, and now it looks as though it may become either the only or the leading way of providing assistance to the people who want to go to college," Petri said. "I think that is going to be a wonderful day for both taxpayers and for students to see this program become the dominant federal aid program in the student area."

Recently, hundreds of colleges have switched to the Direct Loan Program in preference to guaranteed loans because, unlike the FFEL guaranteed loan program, direct loans provide students with continued access to federal loans regardless of the state of the credit markets. These schools are reporting a smooth and easy transition to the program and satisfaction with the service.

During the last Congress, revelations of special favors, benefits and kickbacks received by colleges and college loan administrators to persuade them to steer students to for-profit, federally subsidized loans under FFEL further highlighted the drawbacks of the subsidized program.

Rep. Petri's recorded comments:

"When the Congressional Budget Office reviewed the budget submitted by President Obama, there was a lot of bad news in many areas because they projected deficits to be much higher than President Obama had. But in one area there was some - what I think is terrific - news. They projected the savings to the taxpayer for switching from the old guaranteed student loan program (where the federal government guarantees loans made by the banks and other financial institutions) to the direct student loan program would mean savings to the taxpayers of some $94 billion over the next 10 years.

"That's a fantastic amount, and it illustrates how rich the subsidies were to the financial institutions which participated in the student loan program, and why they fought tooth and nail to keep the guarantee program going."

"I started working on the Direct Loan Program some 20 years ago at the suggestion of financial aid experts in the state of Wisconsin, got it adopted as an experimental program at Marquette and a number of other colleges around the country, worked with President Clinton to expand it nationwide, and now it looks as though it may become the leading way of providing assistance to the people who want to go to college, and I think that it's going to be a wonderful day, for both the taxpayer and for students, to see this program become the dominant federal aid program in the student area."



Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: March, 2009; RPCV Tom Petri (Somalia) ; Student Loans; Figures; Peace Corps Somalia; Directory of Somalia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Somalia RPCVs; Politics; Congress; Wisconsin





When this story was posted in April 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed

 Site Index Search PCOL with Google Contact PCOL Recent Posts Bulletin Board Open Discussion RPCV Directory Register

March 22, 2009: Special Envoy Date: March 22 2009 No: 1343 March 22, 2009: Special Envoy
Holbrooke is Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan 26 Feb
Peace Corps Madagascar Program Suspended 16 Mar
Peace Corps Volunteer Murdered in Benin 12 Mar
Joseph Acaba Makes First Spacewalk 21 Mar
Michael O'Hanlon: Can Obama win in Afghanistan? 20 Mar
Dodd faces Rebellion in Connecticut 19 Mar
Mike Honda writes: Request for Internet Ideas 19 Mar
Laurence Leamer writes: Tragedy of the Peace Corps 16 Mar
Gaddi Vasquez at Annenberg Foundation Trust 16 Mar
White House defends appointment of Chris Hill 14 Mar
Ted Kennedy promotes national service bill 10 Mar
John Dunlop helps Iraq recover 8 Mar
Want a better safer world? Volunteer. 6 Mar
Guy Consolmagno writes: The Search for Earth-like Planets 5 Mar
Charles Murray to receive AEI Award 5 Mar
Sam Goldman started D.light to replace kerosene lamps 4 Mar
RPCVs apply Ideas To Hometown In Need 3 Mar
Senator Bond: Peace Corps and Smart Power 26 Feb
Bob Shacochis writes: Rebuild the Peace Corps 24 Feb
Stephen Andersen promotes Kenyan artisans 24 Feb
Francis Koster writes: A shard of glass 24 Feb
Read more stories from February 2009 and March.

PCOL's Candidate for Peace Corps Director Date: December 2 2008 No: 1288 PCOL's Candidate for Peace Corps Director
Honduras RPCV Jon Carson, 33, presided over thousands of workers as national field director for the Obama campaign and said the biggest challenge -- and surprise -- was the volume of volunteer help, including more than 15,000 "super volunteers," who were a big part of what made Obama's campaign so successful. PCOL endorses Jon Carson as the man who can revitalize the Peace Corps, bring it into the internet age, and meet Obama's goal of doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011.

Director Ron Tschetter:  The PCOL Interview Date: December 9 2008 No: 1296 Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez.



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: The Reporter

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Student Loans; Figures; COS - Somalia; Politics; Congress

PCOL43632
51


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: