1997_11 The Daily Collegian November 1997

              News
THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN -
Monday, November 24,1997     «5
'Sallie Mae' deals with new loan legislation
By Charles Dervarics
College Press Service
WASHINGTON-Thc largest
consolidator of student loans. Stu¬
dent Loan Marketing Association,
known as Sallie Mac. will not ac¬
cept applications from students who
want to consolidate multiple edu¬
cation loans, at least temporarily.
Legislation Congress passed this
fall and President Clinton signed in,
mid-November means "more costs"
for the agency, making consolida¬
tion loans unworkable, said Dcnisc
Rossitto, an association spokes¬
woman.
"Wc have suspended consolida¬
tion practices entirely," she said.
When The GOP bill, the Emer¬
gency Student Loan Consolidation
Act, was passed, congressional Re¬
publicans touted it as a solution to
the backlog of direct-loan consoli¬
dations. The law allows direct-loan
participants to consolidate borrow¬
ing under the hank-administcrcd
Family Federal Education Loan
system, of which Sallie Mae is a
major part.
But now college students in
search of consolidation loans may
face a greater uncertainty than be¬
fore the law was passed. Students
and recent graduates turn to con¬
solidations to merge various bor¬
rowing under a single plan, often
with a lower monthly payment.
Sallie Mae coordinates about 40
percent of all student loans nation¬
wide and 35 percent of consolida¬
tion loans, Rossitto said. The
agency receives 5,000 to 7,000 con¬
solidation applications a month, she
added.
Republicans had designed the
new law to help about 80,000 stu¬
dents and recent graduates who
could not get consolidations be¬
cause of problems in the direct-loan
program, a Clinton administration
initiative to cut loan costs by by¬
passing banks.
Problems with a government
contractor led to a backlog of con¬
solidation applications in that pro¬
gram, however, and the U.S. Edu¬
cation Department halted all con¬
solidations last summer to address
the problems.
Republicans seized the opportu¬
nity to criticize direct loans, in
which the federal government pro¬
vides loan capital directly to stu¬
dents through colleges and univer¬
sities.
"The program was touted as
'one-stop shopping' by [ED] Sec¬
retary [Richard] Riley four years
ago," said Rep. William Goodling
(R-Pa.), chairman ofthe House edu¬
cation committee this summer.
"Now. for some students, the pro¬
gram has become 'no-stop' shop¬
ping."
Goodling and other congres¬
sional leaders who authored the
new legislation did not return phone
calls seeking comment about the
latest shutdown. .
The Emergency Student Loan
Consolidation Act breaks new
ground because it permits students
to leave the direct-loan system
when consolidating their loans.
Under the old system, students who
had both a direct loan and an FFEL
loan could consolidate only under
the direct-loan program."
But the new authority came with
a catch: the loans would catry an
interest rate of no more than 8.25
percent, the same rate ceiling avail¬
able under direct loans.
That provision is a financial and
administrative burden to Sallie
Mae, whose consolidation loans
had carried an interest rate equal to
the average of the affected loans,
officials said.
For example, a student who con¬
solidate three loans with interest
rates of 8 percent, 9 percent and 10
percent would get a 9-percent rate
on a consolidation loan, according
to Rossitto.
Though rates to students may
fall under this new program, "in¬
terest rates are not the reason we're
pulling out of the program," she
Yale
Continued from page 1.
such relationships is, of course, dif¬
ficult." states the college's 73-word
policy. It's probably even more dil-
- ficult considering that the school
has only, 28P.studej»u.aand 35 fac¬
ulty members.-
"Wc pride ourselves on getting
to know each other as individuals."
says John Hayes, dean of faculty,
adding that faculty and students
have meals together and teachers
serve as tutors and mentors during
the students' senior year.
Hayes says the school has never
assmt
Pixies
had a sexual-harassment complaint,
but there have been several mar¬
riages between students and teach-
ers.
"My personal feeling is that-in¬
stitutions shouldn't mess with re¬
lationships, cither encouraging or
discouraging them." Hayes says.
"It's a minefield."
Continued from page 3.
Pixies started out on.
This is displayed most promi¬
nently on songs like "Monkey Gone
to Heaven," where the band mixes
chunky, distorted guitar with beau¬
tiful, angelic strings in one of those
rare, great songs that is about both
everything and nothing at the same
time.
"Gigantic," from the band's
seminal first album "Surfer Rosa,"
written by bassist and future
Breeder's leader Kim Deal,
achieves the same angelic effect
through waves of noisy guitar so¬
los. Distortion never sounded this
'pretty.
Although "Death to Pixies" is
overall a great collection, it does
have a couple a major faults, which
can be traced to the record's efforts
to be all things to all people.
The collection is made up of one
CD of highlights taken from the
band's five studio albums for all the
new fans. The second CD is an un¬
remarkable 1990 recording of the
band in concert that was included
to get fans who already own all the
albums to plunk down $25 for
songs they already own. The Pix¬
ies' never were a great live band, and
many of the more subtle qualities
of their songs get left behind in the
decreased sound quality of a live re¬
cording.
This truncated format doesn't do
the band justice, but the whole no-
lion that a band like the Pixies can
be accurately portrayed in 40 songs
is an anachronism. At least this col¬
lection wasn't packed with a bunch
of worthless b-sides and out-takes
like several recently-released col¬
lections celebrating the existence of
other great alternative rock bands
like the Replacements and X.
Even though it is death to the
Pixies, this compilation shows that
their influence will always live on.
•
Go to The Collegian website and
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278-5731
'said.
Instead, Sallie Mae would face
substantial new operating costs to
manage the new system and its dif¬
ferent rules. Sallie Mae also will not
process consolidation loans for stu¬
dents who rely only on bank- fi¬
nanced loans, at least temporarily.
Sallie Mae said. The shutdown will
last "a minimum of four months,"
according to Rossitto.
Despite the suspension, Sallie
Mae will look at other ways for stu¬
dents with multiple loans to extend
payments or set more manageable
repayment plans, Rossitto said.
"We don't want to leave them with¬
out options," she added.
Those affected by the suspen¬
sion may contact Sallie Mae for
assistance at 1-888-2- SALLIE.
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