WASHINGTON — It’s a change in the way student loans are processed. But it’s one that is hitting black colleges particularly hard.

With little notice and no fanfare the Department of Education made a critical change to the Parent PLUS Loans program by tightening the restrictions and now there is fallout.

The rejection rate this year on these types of loans has practically doubled and that slams the door to higher education in the face of thousands of students. The Baltimore Sun reports the presidents of Morgan State University, Coppin State University, Bowie State University and eight other historically black colleges wrote to President Obama last week asking that the changes be reversed.

Morgan State University President David Wilson says, “We have students thirsting for a degree, and the only thing holding them back is the financial wherewithal.”

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