Bush Officials Killed Proposal For Student Loan Reform

Bush officials killed a proposal to clamp down on sleazy practices in the student loan industry in 2001, the Washington Post reports. The proposals, drafted under Clinton and circulated to the Bush team, was aimed at curbing the kind of abuses now being investigated, in which loan companies pay universities to help get students' business.

"The Department of Education has been run as a wholly owned subsidiary of the loan industry under this administration," said Barmak Nassirian, an advocate for industry reform. More than a dozen department officials used to work in the loan industry, or found jobs there after leaving the department, the Post reports. (More student loans stories.)