OmamaCare Takeover: Education Edition?

Now this part actually sounds a lot worse than a takeover of health care if you are in the colleges indoctrinate certain students camp of thinking.

Not everyone is convinced. A few days ago, another Secretary of Education—Lamar Alexander—inveighed in WaPo on what the folks at Department of Education “haven’t told us.” Senator Alexander notes that DOE plans to borrow from the Fed at a 2.8 percent interest rate, lend to students at 6.8, and splurge with the difference with a massive new spending program. He reports that the Congressional Budget Office has lowered the estimated savings from kicking out the private lenders from $87 billion to something like $47 billion. Some 2,000 private lenders will be forced out of this business. Services to students driven by industry competition will be eliminated in favor of typical federal bureaucratic “efficiency.” And those “educators, engineers and computer scientists—the backbone of the new economy”? They will be spending years longer and paying lots more to pay back loans that are actually being used to fund Congressmen’s favorite edu-pork programs.

That part about borrowing from the FED at 2.8% interest rate and lending to students at a 6.8% rate sounds like some kind of scheme to create a stealth source of cash. I can't understand how the Department of Education gets to take out loans from the FED in the first place and then charge a higher rate to students.

Why can't the DOE just charge 2.8% to the students or like 3% and keep that .2% for administrative costs? I thought this was about trying to get more educators, engineers and computer scientists into the economy. You would think these students would rather spend a lower amount of time paying back a below market interest rate rather than an above market rate.

Also the conspiracy theorist in me kind of thinks that the DOE might have the opportunity to deny loans to business majors and pass through loans going to socialist theory majors. Perhaps there will be a secret list of "approved majors" that the government will allow. Then if you take the wrong classes or study something that is "too capitalist" you suddenly find your loan money cut off. I wonder if members of the Young Republicans or the Students for Israel will see their loan money cut off as well?

It all sounds even spookier how they want to graft this thing onto reconciliation for an unrelated health care reform bill as well. It kind of sounds like an end-around that will only come to light years down the road when you read an article about how business schools in America are starting to close.