Guaranteed Student Loans: Profits of Secondary Market Lenders Vary Widely

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the activities of secondary market lenders that purchase loans made under the Department of Education's Stafford Student Loan Program to determine the: (1) lenders' rates of return or profitability on Stafford loans during fiscal years 1985 through 1988; (2) reasons for varying levels of profitability among those lenders; and (3) effects of the 1986 subsidy reductions on profitability.