An Unsatisfying Consenus on PLUS Loans

After months of negotiations, the U.S. Department of Education’sProgram Integrity Negotiated Rulemaking Committee last week came to a tentative consensus about the definition of adverse credit for PLUS loans. This agreement on PLUS loans is a clear middle-ground approach designed to assuage the institutions that experienced significant revenue loss due to recent changes to the program without angering the consumer and student advocates who are concerned that low- and middle-income families are getting in over their heads with a loan product that has very few consumer protections. Still, this regulatory compromise should only be a short-term fix until more robust statutory changes can be made to the program through reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).