Arizona State University officials have decided to rename the school’s largest financial aid program after President Barack Obama in honor of his commencement address to ASU’s 2009 graduating class, reports The Arizona Republic (“ 1,600 ASU Freshmen Will Qualify for Obama Scholarship ,” May 7, 2009). Approximately 1,600 incoming ASU freshmen could now qualify for an award under the President Barack Obama Scholars Program, after the school increased the qualifying family income from $25,000 to $60,000

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$17,000 Obama Scholarship to Be Awarded to 1,600 Arizona Students

In what is being viewed as a direct hit to private third-party lenders in the Federal Family Education Loan Program who are fighting to keep the program alive, the U.S. Department of Education’s preliminary data paints the FFEL program as a costly and ineffective system with a 7.3-percent student loan default rate, two whole points higher than the default rate for the Direct Loan Program (“ Private Lenders Brace for Fight Over Student-Loan Role ,” The Wall Street Journal , March 27, 2009). Since its launch in the 1960s, FFELP has been the primary source of federal student loans.

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Federal Student Loan Lenders Fight for Survival