One of the casualties of the economic downturn has been student loan programs for international students who attend U.S. business schools. I’ve heard several stories over the past year about foreign MBA applicants choosing not to apply to U.S. schools because of an inability to get loans to pay for that education. The following article from BusinessWeek.com describes a relatively new program that is trying to fill the void left by the elimination of loan programs that used to be offered by CitiAssist and Sallie Mae.

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“A financial lifeline for foreign MBA students”
Author: Alison Damast
Source: BusinessWeek.com http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jan2010/bs2010014_067543.htm

Excerpt from the article:

Her timing couldn’t have been better. GMAC had just convened an advisory group to help schools come up with ways to solve the international student loan crisis at business schools, and they invited Martinelli to join and brainstorm with them. By January, Booth became the first school to sign onto the Affiliated Loan Program for Students (ALPS), a pilot program financed by Deutsche Bank (DB) which makes it easier for international students to come study in the U.S.

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Over the past year, ALPS has so far issued about 3,500 loans to foreign and domestic students, and loan volume is upwards of $100 million, organizers say. Business schools are not the only ones taking an interest in the loan program; graduate law and medical programs are also taking note, and more schools are expected to join in 2010, says Kevin Moehn, president of Moehn & Associates, the loan program’s administrator, who’s in the midst of signing agreements with at least four other universities.