The Education Department got hit from all sides at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, with lawmakers, advocates, and investigators alike accusing the agency of everything from lax oversight to poor customer service.
Their target was the department’s Office of Federal Student Aid, or FSA, the semiautonomous division charged with awarding billions of dollars in student grants and loans, and overseeing the thousands of contractors and colleges that deliver and manage that money. With a loan portfolio of more than $1.2 trillion, FSA is, as the department’s inspector general noted on Wednesday, "one of the largest financial institutions in the country."
During the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, held by two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives, critics said the office had mismanaged the companies that service its student loans, mishandled taxpayer dollars, and failed to communicate effectively with colleges and borrowers. They called on Congress to step up its oversight of the agency.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/3-Ways-the-Education-Dept/234268