House Speaker Rod Jetton says Governor Matt Blunt has addressed Jetton’s concerns about the sale of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority. Jetton expressed concerns about the initial proposal of Blunt to sell MOHELA to a private firm. Jetton says that while that would have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for capital improvements, it would have driven up interest rates on college student loans. He favors the revised version that keeps MOHELA intact and sells half its assets to raise capital. Jetton says the decison by the MOHELA board leaves the Legislature with only the power to determine how to spend the money raised. There had been some question whether Blunt needed the Legislature’s approval to enact his initial proposal. The change, though, shifted the responsibility to the MOHELA board which agreed to sell $2.4-Billion in consolidation loans to raise an estimated $450-Million. The bulk of that sum, $300-Million, would pay for college capital improvements. The remainder, under Blunt’s proposal, would establish a scholarship program and fund endowed professorships.
