PLUS loans are approved for some parents who cannot afford to repay them, several college financial aid officers and financially

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问题     PLUS loans are approved for some parents who cannot afford to repay them, several college financial aid officers and financially strapped parents say. They hold the view that many financially strapped and unsophisticated parents may be taking PLUS loans to help their children out now, not realizing that how much trouble awaits them if they start missing payments.
    The Department of Education says it is simply awarding PLUS loans according to the rules set by Congress: Federal law "provides no authority for the Department to deny an applicant a PLUS loan based on their perceived ability to repay the loan," a department spokesman explained via E-mail. Instead, parents can borrow as long as they don’t have what the law calls " adverse credit. " That low standard only cuts off parents with serious credit problems such as a bankruptcy, lien or foreclosure in the last five years, or a bill currently more than 90 days overdue.
    Because no one knows how many parents are taking college loans they can’t afford, there is debate over how big—or small—the problem might be.
    Nancy Lynn Hoover, director of financial aid at Denison University, thinks very few parents are getting in over their heads. She said many college aid officers may have noticed a difference in approval standards this year because on July 1, the federal government took over handling of all federal college loan applications. Before that, private banks, many of which had tougher lending standards for PLUS loans, were paid by the government to process most federal college loan applications. " I personally have mentored over 100 schools’ switch to the federal loan management system," Hoover says. " If it were a situation of much magnitude, I believe I would hear it. "
    But even a few loans to parents who can’t afford them at each of the more than 4,000 colleges in the U. S. would mean financial crises for thousands of families. Last fiscal year, about 737,000 parent PLUS loans were approved, out of an estimated 1.1 million applications. If a similar number apply this coming year, and the government continues its current policy, it will likely approve 825,000 parent PLUS loans.
    Sarah Bauder, assistant vice president of enrollment services and financial aid at the University of Maryland, said the PLUS approval rate for parents of her students has jumped from about 80 percent to 97 percent since the switch to the federal direct lending program. She says she knows at least a few of the parents who have been approved are jobless or teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. " Look at the housing market scenario. Five to seven years down the road, we’re going to be in the same situation for parent loans," Bauder warns.  
Which of the following plays a key role in approval of PLUS loans?

选项 A、The state government.
B、The Department of Education.
C、College financial aid officers.
D、Private banks.

答案B

解析 细节题。本题的判断依据主要在第二二段第一句,教育部表示它只是在依据国会设定的标准在审批贷款。虽然要受到国会和联邦法律的权限制约,但毕竟具体的审批权利机构还是教育部,由此可见,教育部在贷款审批过程中起着关键性的作用。故本题答案为[B]。三个错项可首先排除[A]项,联邦追加贷款是联邦政府的行为,与任何州政府没有关系。而大学财政援助人员只是在具体的申报和执行环节中发挥作用,虽然文章多处引用他们的观点,但他们对于贷款是否获得批准没有决定性的影响,故[C]项错误。而[D]项Private banks,私人银行曾受政府聘请,进行贷款申请的处理事务,并且目前此项工作也已由政府直接接手,故排除[D]。
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