By Chronicle Staff. Report: “Pounding Student Loan Borrowers: The Heavy Cost of the Government’s Partnership With Debt Collection Agencies”
Authors: Deanne Loonin and Persis Yu, both lawyers at the National Consumer Law Center
Organization: National Consumer Law Center
Summary: The authors reviewed complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission against 22 companies that collect defaulted student loans on the federal government’s behalf. More...

By Andy Thomason. The Department of Education on Monday made it easier for members of the armed forces to pay lower interest rates on their federal student loans. Service members who qualify for a cap on their interest rates under the Higher Education Opportunity Act have had to request that the benefit be applied to their loans. But the department’s new guidance directs student-loan servicers to consult a government database and automatically apply the cap for qualifying borrowers. More...

By Andy Thomason. The U.S. Department of Education on Friday announced it had renegotiated its contracts with federal student-loan servicers, giving them more incentives to keep borrowers from defaulting on their loans. President Obama announced plans to renegotiate the contracts in June, but Friday’s announcement provides more detail. For example, customer-satisfaction surveys will now play a larger role in how the servicers are evaluated, according to a statement from the department. More...