News that legislation was being introduced that would allow the Department of Education to buy up student debt from private lenders. Many private lenders were suspending Title IV / FFEL loans for 2008 since securities backed by student debt froze up in the auction rate securities market.
Numerous articles ran in the WSJ and other business publications announcing the contraction of the student loans market and students' increasing difficulty in securing education loans. The articles followed Sallie Mae's decision to stop providing loans for postsecondary education. On February 22, ITT revised its revenue prediction to include its new exposure to the credit/loan crisis.