Legislation passed recently by the U. S. House of Representatives to dismantle the student loan program is an example of an unnecessary government takeover. As a Sallie Mae employee, I have witnessed private/public sector cooperative efforts that have generated significant improvements. One of the improvements has been a drop in student loan default rates (from 22.4 percent in 1992 to today’s 6.7 percent), saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

There are other advantages that Sallie Mae and other industry participants offer. Having worked in financial aid offices at a number of universities, I know the myriad mind-boggling laws and regulations that dictate how financial aid programs are to be administered. For decades, organizations such as Sallie Mae have helped college financial aid administrators make sense of these regulations. Without these learning opportunities, there is no doubt that the level of service that financial aid administrators offer to students and parents would be lacking.

Beyond these considerations, there are more than 2,300 Indiana jobs at risk. At a time that our state unemployment is at 9.2 percent, do we want to risk losing more jobs?

Effective private/public sector partnerships that provide jobs nationwide should not be dismantled. The solution to our economic challenges is not for the government to take over multiple industries. I urge Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh to take the time to consider the entire value of the private sector in the student loan program and to save Indiana jobs.

Phillip Walsh

Indianapolis