The Tactic: Playing the Inside Game
The Bush administration appointed executives and lobbyists from the student loan industry to prominent positions at the Department of Education, especially in subcabinet posts, where many important policies are made and implemented.
William Hansen
Deputy secretary of education from 2001 to 2003.
A top lobbyist for private lenders, Hansen was CEO of the Education Finance Council, a lender trade group. He also led a political action committee that backed candidates who favored private lending. After leaving the No. 2 post at Education in July, he rejoined the private sector.
Sally Stroup
Assistant secretary for postsecondary education.
She was a top aide to former Rep. William Goodling, head of the House Education Committee, and in the late 1990s helped Goodling try to rein in the Clinton direct-loan program. From 1981 to 1993, Stroup worked for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, a state lender.
Theresa Shaw
Head of the Office of Federal Student Aid In 2002,
She took charge of the government office that administers all federal student loans. Before that, Shaw worked in private industry for 22 years, mostly for Sallie Mae, where she served as a senior vice president and as chief information officer.
Jeffrey Andrade
Deputy assistant secretary from 2002 to 2003.
He worked for lobbying firm Dean Blakey & Moskowitz. Its clients included the Consumer Bankers Association and the Coalition of Higher Education Assistance Organizations. He lobbied to limit the ability of the direct-loan program to compete with commercial lenders.
This story appears in the October 27, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.