Title 20 › Chapter CHAPTER 28— - HIGHER EDUCATION RESOURCES AND STUDENT ASSISTANCE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - STUDENT ASSISTANCE › Part Part B— - Federal Family Education Loan Program › § 1072
The Secretary can give short-term loans to States or to nonprofit guaranty groups to build or strengthen the reserve funds that back student loan insurance. If a State has no program and is unlikely to start one, the Secretary may make these advances to nonprofit groups so students in that State can still use an insured loan program. After June 30, 1968, any advance must be matched dollar-for-dollar by non-Federal money. The Secretary sets the terms and repayment schedule. Money from one pot of appropriations is divided among States based on the population aged 18 to 22, with each State getting at least $25,000. Some advances for paying insurance obligations are generally equal to 10% of the principal on loans where the first payment became due in the prior fiscal year, reduced by earlier advances and unspent federal amounts. The Secretary must recover and return specific sums to the Treasury: $75,000,000 in fiscal year 1988 and $35,000,000 in fiscal year 1989. Guaranty agencies that had claim payments withheld between September 1, 1988 and December 31, 1989 can be reimbursed if they prove earlier errors with an audit by January 1, 1993. The Secretary must pay certain withheld amounts within 30 days after July 23, 1992 to agencies meeting listed conditions. Reserve funds and assets of guaranty agencies are treated as U.S. property for program purposes, and the Secretary can require returns, limit contracts, and take enforcement action where needed. The Secretary must also recall $1,000,000,000 from guaranty agency reserve funds on September 1, 2002 using each agency’s share based on reserve ratios as of September 30, 1996, with special rules for amounts above a 2.0% ratio and for not reducing any agency below a 0.58% ratio. Agencies were required to move their share into restricted accounts in fiscal years 1998–2002 in equal installments (with limited exceptions), and earnings from those accounts may be used for default-reduction activities. Separate recalls require $85,000,000 in fiscal year 2002 and $82,500,000 in each of fiscal years 2006 and 2007, calculated as an equal percentage cut of reserve funds held on September 30, 1996, with protections so agencies that charge a 1.0% premium are not reduced below an amount equal to lender claim payments paid in the prior 90 days.
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Reference
Citation
20 U.S.C. § 1072
Title 20 — Education
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73