Student Loans:
Direct Loans Could Save Money and Simplify Program Administration
HRD-91-144BR: Published: Sep 27, 1991. Publicly Released: Sep 27, 1991.
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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) determined whether federal savings can be expected by replacing Stafford student loans with direct loans under a direct loan program proposed by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges; and (2) reviewed the administrative responsibilities that would accrue to educational institutions and the Department of Education from direct lending.
GAO found that: (1) a direct loan program operating in place of the Stafford loan program could save over $1 billion, assuming the loans were made in fiscal year 1992; (2) estimated savings, which would result primarily from the absence of in-school interest and special allowance payments to lenders, ranged from $620 million to $1.47 billion; (3) although Education would acquire additional oversight roles under a direct loan program, its ability to monitor the flow of funds would improve, since it would no longer monitor lenders or guaranty agencies, make special allowance payments to lenders, or reconcile special allowance and origination fee accounts with lenders; (4) educational institutions would engage in such new activities as forecasting loan volume, requesting transfers of funds from Education, and drawing down those funds as students received their loans and paperwork in a direct loan program; (5) a direct loan program would simplify paperwork and reporting requirements for the schools, since schools would work with one or several servicers rather than hundreds of lenders and multiple guaranty lenders; and (6) a direct loan program could improve program accountability.
Jan 27, 2021
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Higher Education:
IRS and Education Could Better Address Risks Associated with Some For-Profit College ConversionsGAO-21-89: Published: Dec 31, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 27, 2021.
Jan 19, 2021
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Higher Education:
Department of Education Should Further Assess College Access Grant ProgramsGAO-21-5: Published: Dec 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 19, 2021.
Jan 11, 2021
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K-12 Education:
Observations on States' School Improvement EffortsGAO-21-199: Published: Jan 11, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 11, 2021.
Dec 10, 2020
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Higher Education:
Children's Savings Account Programs Can Help Families Build Savings and Envision CollegeGAO-21-10: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020.
Nov 19, 2020
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Distance Learning:
Challenges Providing Services to K-12 English Learners and Students with Disabilities during COVID-19GAO-21-43: Published: Nov 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2020.
Oct 15, 2020
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Data Security:
Recent K-12 Data Breaches Show That Students Are Vulnerable to HarmGAO-20-644: Published: Sep 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 15, 2020.
Oct 14, 2020
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Disaster Recovery:
COVID-19 Pandemic Intensifies Disaster Recovery Challenges for K-12 SchoolsGAO-21-62R: Published: Oct 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 14, 2020.
Sep 29, 2020
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Federal Student Loans:
Supplemental Data on Income and Family Size Information for Income-Driven Repayment PlansGAO-20-591R: Published: Sep 29, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 2020.
Aug 27, 2020
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Native American Youth:
Agencies Incorporated Almost All Leading Practices When Assessing Grant Programs That Could Prevent or Address Delinquency [Reissued with revisions on Aug. 27, 2020.]GAO-20-600: Published: Aug 6, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 6, 2020.
Jul 24, 2020
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K-12 Education:
School Districts Need Better Information to Help Improve Access for People with DisabilitiesGAO-20-448: Published: Jun 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 24, 2020.
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