Stafford Act

As part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's “Great Society” initiative, the U.S. Congress passed, and he signed into law, the Higher Education Act of 1965, authorizing federal student financial aid programs including the Educational Opportunity Grant Program and the Federal Insured Student Loan Program, better known as the Guaranteed Student Loan Program (GSL). The eligibility requirements and terms and conditions of the loans are set forth in Title IV of the act and its subsequent amendments. Since its inception, the GSL Program has provided low-cost loans allowing millions of students to receive a college education that they otherwise might not have been able to afford. In 1988, the GSL Program was renamed the Stafford Loan Program in honor of Republican Senator Robert T. Stafford of ...