Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., proposed raising the maximum award in the U.S. government's main college scholarship program by 56 percent within five years and barring financial inducements to schools by student-loan companies.

The largest college grant for students from low- and middle- income families would rise to $6,300 for 2011-12 from $4,050 this year under legislation filed today by Kennedy.

Kennedy would also bar lenders such as SLM (Sallie Mae) and Citigroup from making payments to colleges or their employees in exchange for student-loan business, a practice that has been the subject of state and federal inquiries.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Kennedy chairs, is one of three in Congress investigating the $85 billion-a-year student-loan industry.

First California Nurse Has Loan Debt Forgiven

ALL Student Loan, California's largest nonprofit provider of student loans, announced the first nurse to have their student loan debt forgiven under a new program designed to encourage low-income Californians to become nurses.

Yan Jiang recently graduated Magna Cum Laude from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. Following graduation, ALL Student Loan forgave a portion of Jiang's Stafford student loan debt under its Taking Care of California (SM) ("TCC") loan forgiveness program for nursing students. Jiang, who is working as a registered nurse, is the first of many borrowers whose debt ALL Student Loan plans to forgive under the new program.

ALL Student Loan created TCC in response to California's nursing shortage. According to Governor Schwarzenegger's California Nurse Education Initiative, fewer than 6,000 nurses graduate annually in California, but studies show at least 9,500 new nurses are needed each year to keep pace with demand.