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Sallie Mae is Totally Your BFF
Are you friends with Sallie Mae?
I am. My parents are friends with Sallie Mae too. We borrowed money from her when I went to college. She was really nice about it- I don't have to pay any of the money back until I graduate. Sallie's a nice chick.
Unfortunately, within the past couple months we've learned that the universities are friends with Sallie Mae (and other lenders too.) Sallie gave them money and kickbacks, in exchange for promoting her to their students. Sallie had to pay $2 million, and promise to stop being friends with university officials. The officials were pretty sad, but Sallie was a bad influence. It was for the best.
Ok, enough silliness.
Sallie Mae may not be able to be such good friends with universities, but she is still BFF with the government- as are banks and other private lenders. Madeleine May Kunin, former governor of Vermont and deputy secretary of education from 1993-1996 wrote a juicy little op-ed piece for the Times on the subject. She cited the need for expanded direct loans that come directly from the government and eliminate the middle man (like the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program) as a way to streamline the process for students, lower interest rates and actually save taxpayers money. Read it!
© The New York Times Company -