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STUDENT LOAN INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS MARCH ON WASHINGTON U S NEWS WORLD REPORT

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Student Loan Industry Lobbyists March on Washington

Call it theMarch on Washington to Subsidize Student Lenders In an effort to prevent the Senate from passing a reform bill that would make college affordable for all, the student loan industry has mounted a massive lobbying campaign to keep its vast government subsidies. Loan giant Sallie Mae alone currently has more than 20 lobbyists blanketing the Hill, trying to sink an effort to reduce college costs and take the middle man out of student lending.

The Senate has begun working on a similar bill, but the student loan companies have tried to torpedo the entire initiative by arguing that it would wreak economic havoc, and that it would cost tens of thousands of jobs. But the industry plays loose and fast with the facts of loan reform and the negative economic effects are significantly less than they claim.

For instance, the lenders have argued in lobbying documents that as many as 35,000 jobs would be cut under the proposal, even though their own research shows that the program employs only about 30,000 people. The banks also provided Congress with state-by-state employment counts that appear to overstate the programs economic reach by including jobs such as technology providers that also support other lending programs. One lobbying document lists two people working with the program in Kansas. However, a c...[more]