From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The growing scandal in student loans.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

With college tuition

rising toward $50,000 a year, student lending has become an $85 billion industry. Investing in

education is a lot like buying a car, with discounts and interest rates as important as faculty

qualifications or student performance. Private lenders compete with the federal government and friendly college administrators have

taken gifts, trips, and stock options on to the point.

How can students and parents tell if they're getting their money's worth?

Is the Department of Education doing its job?

Why is it so expensive to go to school?

On reporter's notebook later on, are you getting the gasoline you're paying for?

First, here's the news.

Support for To The Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Wamanalini, back with To the Point. With an $85 billion industry under investigation, the government's top student loan regulator is stepping down. Congress enacted reforms today.

On To the Point, how widespread are kickbacks and fraud. How can students and parents assess their

return on investment when tuition costs $50,000 a year? On reporter's notebook, when is five gallons

of gasoline? Not five gallons of gasoline? In the summertime. We'll find out how you might be

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