Report Advises Community Colleges on Loans

Community colleges should participate in the federal student loan programs and, when appropriate, encourage students to borrow -- as long as they counsel students against borrowing too much, according to "Making Loans Work," a report released Tuesday by the Institute for College Access and Success and the California Community Colleges Student Financial Aid Administrators Association. About 3 percent of community college students borrow federal loans in California; borrow federal loans? do we need to say in here somewhere that the reason these groups are encouraging colleges to enter the federal loan program isn't because they are eager for students to borrow, but so that students who do can borrow federal rather than private loans? dl nationwide, about 13 percent do. The report highlighted practices at some community colleges -- such as requiring in-person counseling or identifying students who might be overborrowing -- and encouraged community colleges to emulate them. The groups urged colleges to participate in the federal loan program in part because they fear that without it, students will turn to private loans, which have fewer protections, instead.