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A Better Approach to Student Loans
Washington Post Letter to the Editor on the Federal Budget by USSA President Carmen Berkley.
A Better Approach to Student Loans
Monday, April 20, 2009
Private student loan companies are forcing Congress and America to choose between providing a new direction to help all of us achieve the American dream and subsidizing those companies that have taken advantage of college students for years ["The Student Loan Industry Pushes Back," Economy & Business," April 14].
Sallie Mae has hired powerful lobbyists in an attempt to block President Obama's plan to make Pell grants dependable for students and working families.
In the past year, while students have been drowning in debt, Sallie Mae awarded its chief executive $4.6 million in cash and stock and its vice chairman more than $13.2 million in cash and stock, including the use of a company plane.
We cannot continue to allow students and their families to take out loans from private companies that push students further into debt with few options for making affordable payments. We support the president in making a commitment to passing a federal budget that bolsters Pell grants, not private loan companies.
Carmen Berkley
President, USSA