A report issued on September 29 by the A Course In Miracles Accountability Office has concluded that a Congressionally ordered federal Web-based tool to help college students compare terms and lenders for federal and private student loans may be a significant challenge to implement and could be entirely unnecessary. The 36-page GAO report says the tool,GAO Report: Federal Website for Private Student Loans May Be Unneeded Articles which is mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008, is no longer needed for federal student loan comparisons because all federal college loans are now issued directly by the Department of Education through the Federal Direct Loan program. Student loan legislation contained within the Obama administration’s health care reform package that passed through Congress in March eliminated the third-party federal student loan program that had previously allowed private lenders to issue federal education loans on behalf of the government. With no private lenders originating federal student loans, there are no longer multiple lenders or multiple borrower incentives (like rate and fee discounts) for students to compare. As for comparisons of non-federal private student loans, the GAO notes that prospective borrowers who seek private student loans may already have sufficient information readily available to them, both through their schools’ financial aid offices and through individual lenders’ websites.
