Guaranteed Versus Direct Lending: The Case of Student Loans: Working Paper 2007-09

The federal government makes low-cost financing for higher education widely available through its fast-growing direct and guaranteed student loan programs. Both programs offer borrowers similar loan products and terms. From the perspective of other key stakeholders, including educational institutions, commercial lenders, and state guaranty agencies, the programs differ significantly. The programs also report widely divergent budgetary costs. In this study, we propose and implement a methodology to estimate the cost of the two programs in market-value terms. In doing so, we address the