Professional Oklahoma Educators

Representative John Kline and Senator Mike Enzi announced Thursday that they are introducing bipartisan legislation to extend the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). This effort, like the original legislation, would maintain stability in the student loan market, providing students and colleges with confidence in the uninterrupted availability of federal student loans in the face of an ongoing global credit crunch. It also would help those schools opting to remain in the student loan program of their choice.

In response to the global credit crisis, Congress acted in 2008 to increase liquidity and stability in the student loan markets, which allowed providers to continue issuing billions in federal student loans throughout the economic downturn. ECASLA authorizes the Department of Education to serve as a backstop for the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program by purchasing or committing to purchase student loans. The law guarantees that such purchases will result in no additional cost to taxpayers.