Guaranteed Student Loans: Better Criteria Needed for Financing Guarantee Agencies

摘要

Since 1965, the Guaranteed Student Loan Program has provided more than $59 billion in loans. Total loan volume during fiscal year 1985 was $8.9 billion, with federal appropriations of $3.8 billion. Administered by the Department of Education under the Higher Education Act of 1965, the program is scheduled for reauthorization in fiscal year 1986. A key issue has been the size of reserves held by the guarantee agencies that administer the program at the state level. The objective of GAO's review was to determine whether, in the aggregate, guarantee agencies were accumulating, retaining, and using reserve funds in accordance with legislative requirements and federal regulations. The review was not designed to address the reserve funds needed on an agency-by-agency basis.