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 would be the best title of the text?

选项 A、Increased Applications for PLUS Loans
B、Loose Approval Standards of PLUS Loans
C、Different Views on PLUS Loans
D、PLUS Loans Facing Hidden Problems

答案D

解析 主旨题。本文围绕家长追加贷款申请标准放宽一事展开讨论,文章从第三段过渡段之后,从正反两方面来讨论标准放宽对社会的影响,但不管从篇幅,还是从论证方法来看,作者都倾向于反方,即对标准放宽表示担忧,认为这种做法存在隐患。由此可见,答案为[D]项。四个选项中最易排除[A]项和[B]项,两者虽然都是文章所提及的内容,但都不是论述的主题。[C]项较有迷惑性,考生容易认为作者只是在引述各方观点,但实际上,作者在引述之中,通过文章结构和论证的方法也表明了自己的立场,并不是不偏不倚的,故[C]项也可排除。
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