New law eases student-loan pressures

President Bush yesterday signed the 'Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008" (HR 5715) that increases by $2,000 the amount of Stafford loans an undergraduate dependent student may take each year.

The law also increases the amount of federal grants for low-income students, permits parents to defer repayment on PLUS loans until after their children leave college, and makes changes to the federal government's "lender of last resort" program and the purchase of student loans from lenders by the Education Department.
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