Loan Resource

House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Wednesday to boost aid to college students, a deal that calls for slashing roughly $20 billion in government subsidies to banks that issue student loans. Under an agreement reconciling differences between House and Senate bills, the maximum Pell grant, which goes to the poorest students, would increase from $4,310 to $5,400 by 2012. The legislation also would cut interest rates on federally backed student loans to poor and middle-class stud