§ 292a — Scope And Duration Of Loan Insurance Program

(a) The total principal amount of new loans made and installments paid pursuant to lines of credit (as defined in section 292o of this title) to borrowers covered by Federal loan insurance under this subpart shall not exceed $350,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $375,000,000 for fiscal year 1994, and $425,000,000 for fiscal year 1995. If the total amount of new loans made and installments paid pursuant to lines of credit in any fiscal year is less than the ceiling established for such year, the difference between the loans made and installments paid and the ceiling shall be carried over to the next fiscal year and added to the ceiling applicable to that fiscal year, and if in any fiscal year no ceiling has been established, any difference carried over shall constitute the ceiling for making new loans (including loans to new borrowers) and paying installments for such fiscal year. Thereafter, Federal loan insurance pursuant to this subpart may be granted only for loans made (or for loan installments paid pursuant to lines of credit) to enable students, who have obtained prior loans insured under this subpart, to continue or complete their educational program or to obtain a loan under section 292d(a)(1)(B) of this title to pay interest on such prior loans; but no insurance may be granted for any loan made or installment paid after September 30, 1998. The total principal amount of Federal loan insurance available under this subsection shall be granted by the Secretary without regard to any apportionment for the purpose of chapter 15 of title 31 and without regard to any similar limitation. (1) The Secretary may, if necessary to assure an equitable distribution of the benefits of this subpart, assign, within the maximum amounts specified in subsection (a), Federal loan insurance quotas applicable to eligible lenders, or to States or areas, and may from time to time reassign unused portions of these quotas. (2) In providing certificates of insurance under section 292e of this title through comprehensive contracts, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible lenders that agree— (A) to make loans to students at interest rates below the rates prevailing, during the period involved, for loans covered by Federal loan insurance pursuant to this subpart; or (B) to make such loans under terms that are otherwise favorable to the student relative to the terms under which eligible lenders are generally making such loans during such period. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Student Loan Marketing Association, established under part B of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 [20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.], is authorized to make advances on the security of, purchase, service, sell, consolidate, or otherwise deal in loans which are insured by the Secretary under this subpart, except that if any loan made under this subpart is included in a consolidated loan pursuant to the authority of the Association under part B of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the interest rate on such consolidated loan shall be set at the weighted average interest rate of all such loans offered for consolidation and the resultant per centum shall be rounded downward to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum, except that the interest rate shall be no less than the applicable interest rate of the guaranteed student loan program established under part B of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. In the case of such a consolidated loan, the borrower shall be responsible for any interest which accrues prior to the beginning of the repayment period of the loan, or which accrues during a period in which principal need not be paid (whether or not such principal is in fact paid) by reason of any provision of the Higher Education Act of 1965 [20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.]. (2) With respect to Federal regulations for lenders, this subpart may not be construed to preclude the applicability of such regulations to the Student Loan Marketing Association or to any other entity in the business of purchasing student loans, including such regulations with respect to applications, contracts, and due diligence.