Giving Compass' Take:

• The Hechinger Report raises concern over U.S. student loan policy, noting that changes via the Department of Education may put too many business interests in the mix at the detriment to low-income students.

• What can nonprofits in the higher education sector do to make a dent when it comes to college affordability? Is there a way to make sure special interests aren't as much of an obstacle to loan programs?

• Here's why student borrowers may be eligible to cancel federal student loans.

The recent resignation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CPFB) top student loan official, Seth Frotman, comes on the heels of several policy changes at the U.S. Department of Education that enrich big businesses at the expense of students and borrowers.

When he resigned, Frotman penned a letter that described how influential financial institutions have taken hold of the CFPB and led the agency to shirk its responsibilities to consumers and the public.

Together, these developments illustrate just how completely our nation’s student loan policy has been corrupted by the powerful companies that profit from it.

To put students back at the center of the student loan program, we need real anti-corruption rules that target the ways in which big businesses buy their way into the driver’s seat in federal agencies.

In addition to the millions of Americans each year who must borrow money to attend college, the federal student loan program supports a web of companies — servicers, debt collectors and for-profit universities — whose financial interests are at odds with students’ interests. These entities profit from the program, so they are incentivized to increase student debt: the more student loans disbursed, the more opportunities to make money. It is also in their interest to advocate for lax rules: The less oversight of the loan program’s management, the easier it is to cut corners and maximize earnings.

Read the full article about protecting student loan policy from corruption by Julie Margetta Morgan at The Hechinger Report.