Higher Ed Watch

Last week, Higher Ed Watch questioned why Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had granted the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association (ABA) continued recognition as the sole Education Department-approved law school accreditor. We had hoped that she would take tougher action against an entity that has bucked compliance with federal standards for over a decade.

Congress is inching closer to slashing overly generous subsidies the government provides student loan banks and increasing need-based student aid by a concomitant amount.

Financing a college education isn't easy for anybody these days, but it's an especially Herculean task if you're a working-class student living paycheck to paycheck. The obstacles to attending college are high, and the more you have to work to support yourself and your family, the less help you can expect to receive from the government in paying for college.

As much as we'd like not to have to admit it, we have entered a new era -- in which private student loans are becoming an essential financing tool for undergraduate students.

This might not be so worrisome if these loans were going only to upper middle class and affluent students. But that's not the case.