The Obama administration released a proposal that would tighten for-profit colleges’ access to federal student aid,
threatening an industry that received $26.5 billion in U.S. funds last year. Carmel-based ITT Educational Services
is among those potentially affected.
Sallie Mae says a new law that cuts banks out of the federal student-loan business is costing 2,500 workers their jobs in
Florida and Texas, but the cuts won’t hit Indiana in 2010.
Former director says he saw employees give passing scores to students who had failed entrance exams, raise their grades and
alter their attendance records so they would continue to receive U.S. financial aid.
The legislation, piggybacked to the health care bill that passed Congress Sunday night, could also mean major job
losses for Sallie Mae, which employs about 2,400 people in Indiana, including 1,700 in Fishers.
The plan to nationalize the federal student loan program threatens to force Sallie Mae
to hack its network of 26 offices down to five. Yet the company’s Indiana operations have several advantages that could
help weather the cuts.
Sallie Mae CEO Al Lord visited the company’s Fishers office this morning in his latest effort to get the word out that his
business and his employees’ jobs are threatened by a government proposal.
Classes start this week at Ball State University, and other colleges and universities across the country. For many, it is
a bittersweet moment, as parents say goodbye to their now young adults, handing them over to professors and scarily youthful
resident hall assistants for safekeeping.
A state law that went into effect July 1 attempts to attract young physicians and mental health practitioners to underserved
areas by forgiving part of their student loans. But Indiana’s budget woes prevented lawmakers from allocating funds
to support the program.
ITT Educational Services Inc. and other for-profit schools are facing a maelstrom of financial threats that analysts say could
hurt student recruiting and profit margins–and already has driven stock prices down sharply. ITT shares are off 61 percent
since hitting an all-time high of $131.82 in November.
