NPR: Let's Hope Those Five Seven Years at A.S.U. Were Worth It

Let's Hope Those Five Seven Years at A.S.U. Were Worth It

Filed under:

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings will appear before a congressional committee Thursday. Harsh questioning is expected over a scandal sweeping through the college student loan business.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The $85 billion student loan industry has been all over the news this week. Investigations have revealed that some universities may have gotten kickbacks from big lenders, and that the government was overpaying some of these companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of bucks, and that Sallie Mae was getting special treatment from its pals in The Department of Education, and that Wolfgang Puck is responsible for thousands of people defaulting on their student loans.

As it happens, Margaret Spellings (the most appropriately named Secretary of Education EVER.... Seriously, Spellings? That's perfect) was already scheduled to be on Capitol Hill today to talk to the House Education and Labor Committee about the "No Child Left Behind" reading program Reading First -- but you can be sure she's gonna get an earful about her department's oversight of the student loan industry.

Yesterday the House overwhelmingly passed The Student Loan Sunshine Act which is aimed at bringing a little transparency to the relationships between the loan industry and the schools that use them.

Much like that Organic Chem final we took sophomore year, we found all these story threads to be utterly confusing, so we called Anya Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt for the Cliff's Notes version. Plus we talked to Greg Treece -- an occupational therapist in Illinois who is dealing with the hassle of crushing student loan debt.

You can subscribe to the Bryant Park Podcast here.

And we want to know what you all think about this loan brouhaha. You have loan debt? How much? Tell us your story.

Luke Burbank

7:22 AM ET | 05-10-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I am currently enjoying $20,000+ of warm, fuzzy school-related debt. I think I am definitely at the low end of the scale, as I worked full time in college to pay living expenses and supplies.

Sent by Meghan | 10:36 AM ET | 05-10-2007

I say bring the scrutiny-I can't wait to see Margaret Spellings taken down a notch. I wonder how this dust up will affect her ability to implement the report of her commission on higher education.

Sent by Laura | 12:00 PM ET | 05-10-2007

FYI -- Crossing the wires now: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional investigators probing student loan problems said Tuesday that JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid five college student aid officers to do work for the bank while they were on college payrolls.

In 2005 the bank also arranged a $70,000 dinner cruise in
New York City harbor for more than 200 student aid officers,
the investigators said, adding to conflict-of-interest
allegations in a widening student loan scandal.

Sent by Matt Martinez | 1:06 PM ET | 05-10-2007

Thank you for a segment...

I count myself fortunate that between scholarships I earned, my parent's help, and the bargain that my school was (BYU -- Go Cougs!) all enabled me to graduate debt free. It pisses me off to hear about how far in debt other people are since they wanted to attend college.

My younger brother had some friends whose mother was atrocious. At the time we lived in the Philly area, and there are heaps of colleges and universities that no one had heard of. Well, her kids went to one of those no-name places that cost a bundle to attend, and she had the nerve to get angry that her kids could only take out something like $20,000 a year for loans. "Gee, I can't encourage my kids to go further into debt..." How can we educate a brain dead mother like that about putting her kids in debt?

Sent by Steve Petersen | 12:23 AM ET | 05-11-2007

I'm so glad you covered this story.

So far, I have over $12,000 and several years of school still ahead of me.

Debt has weighed heavy on the backs of students in this country for years without being talked about, it's high time things like this come to light.

Sent by Jesse Bufton | 10:35 PM ET | 06-01-2007

Let Sallie Mae bury it self. Don't let the Government take care of it.I say pass the law for bankruptcy for students and don't let the Greedy and Selfish Sallie Mae get away with it.

Sent by Dwayne | 11:36 PM ET | 12-27-2007

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
Please send me updates from NPR.	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Host

Alison Stewart

Welcome to 'The Bryant Park Project'

This new radio show from NPR comes to you weekdays, straight out of New York City. You can find audio and video from us here and in our podcasts. Bryant Park is not a talk show, but it is a conversation. Intrigued? Read our frequently asked questions and discussion rules.