Credit Crunch Update: Sallie Mae to Charge for Student Loan Applications
In the last week or so, we've been talking a lot about how the U.S. credit crunch has sparked fears about student loan availability. With this in mind, the country's largest student loan lender -- Sallie Mae -- announced late last week that it will be cutting certain types of student loans and charging loan application fees ranging from $35 for freshman students to a couple hundred dollars for graduate students.
Noting that one-third of the top 100 student loan lenders have left the business as a result of current credit difficulties, a high-ranking Sallie Mae official provided some more reasoning behind this decision:
• Sallie Mae to Charge for Loans to Students.
Loan application fees? This is ridiculous. This is also the reason our country is lagging behind better educational systems. Instead of focusing on school, many students now have to worry about how to pay for it in the first place.