By Steve Carmody, Michigan Public Radio Network
UNDATED –
The new federal student loan law should help thousands of Michigan residents pay for college.
President Obama signed the legislation on Tuesday which cuts banks out of
the student loan business. The program will now be run the federal government.
Mike Hansen is the president of the Michigan Community College Association.
"Many colleges have already moved away from that and toward a direct loan program," he says. "So I think, time will tell whether or not the federal government has the capacity to serve these loans in the same way that the banking system did."
He says new law should make more money available to Michiganders looking to go back to school for job training. Hansen says nearly a half million people now attend classes in Michigan community colleges, up substantially since the beginning of the recession.