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Uncle Sam cracks the
whip on students
The stakes on student loans just got higher: Not only have
rates soared, but the debt can haunt you all the way to the grave. By
Liz Pulliam Weston
If you're a student or parent and felt a little out of breath
over the holidays, you weren't imagining things. Lawmakers and Supreme
Court justices were busy putting the squeeze on you.
Right before Christmas, Congress decided to slash $12.7 billion over
the next five years from the federal student-loan program and boost interest
rates on the most popular loans. (The changes are likely to become law
in February.) A few weeks earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the government
even more power to go after delinquent student loans -- even if the borrower
is elderly or disabled.
These two developments have ominous implications for the millions of
families who need to borrow money to pay for a college education.
"It's difficult enough as it is," said Ann Ngo, a University
of Southern California student who struggles to make ends meet with a
part-time job and $45,000 so far in student loans. "Why did the government
have to make it worse for us?"
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