Dana has a good rondown of the education elements of the budget. The most promising change comes in the federal student loan program: "The administration wants to originate all student loans in the direct lending program, cutting out wasteful middle-men. This is a very good thing, as it will save the federal government billions of dollars that can be funneled back to students." Jonathan Chait had a nice column on the inefficiencies -- and corruption -- that plagued the previous process, but suffice to say that the federal government used to pay private lenders to offer student loans. Now they're doing it themselves. The elimination of that middle step will save, according to estimates, $4 billion a year. Sometimes government is simply more efficient.
