Education Department officials have said they can double loan volume through the direct loan program with existing personnel and computer systems.

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It appears that ACS Education Solutions, the private company that collects payments for the Department of Education's Direct Loan program, based Zumas' repayments on her gross income, rather than her adjusted gross income, as Congress intended.

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Beginning in 2010-2011, all new student loans will be originated through the direct student loan program.

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The direct-loan program, in contrast, appeared to make money with every new loan it issued.

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The 33-year-old signed up for the Department of Education's Direct Loan consolidation program in November in order to qualify for income-based repayment.

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He was also a chief architect of the federal direct-loan program, in which the government lends money to students through their colleges.

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Wilma Hjellum of 20, 000-student Illinois Central College in East Peoria says she'd have to add several people to her staff if she switched to the direct-loan program.

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The private sector, she wrote, has been more "responsive" to Dillard's needs than the government's own direct student-loan program.

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In recent years this program, which provides direct loans, loan guarantees, and lines of credit to regionally or nationally significant transportation projects, has helped mayors leverage four times the money invested in it by the federal government, helping construction workers get on the job quicker, and repaying taxpayers their hard-earned money faster.

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