No Money for Private Student Loans

COLUMBIA, S.C.- South Carolina’s largest student lender has stopped taking applications for private loans, but will continue making federally backed loans to

college students.

South Carolina Student Loan Corp. president Chuck Sanders said Monday the nonprofit corporation cannot sell bonds to finance private loans because of the

meltdown of U.S. financial markets.

Sanders says the corporation will make all of the private loans already committed for the spring semester, but will stop taking applications until the market

recovers.

The Student Loan Corp. made private loans of about $70 million in each of the past two academic years.

He says the federally backed loans totaled $450 million in the 2007-08 school year and $440 million the year before that.