Herter Approves Bill to Create College Loans Assistance Group

Governor Christian A. Herter '14 yesterday approved a bill to create the Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation, a scheme backed by President Pusey and other educational and business leaders to guarantee loans for college students.

Takes Effect in 90 Days

"This plan is the greatest thing in years to give all qualified college students a chance at a higher education," according to State Senator C. Henry Glovsky. There was no opposition to the bill in the Legislature, he stated, since it was "above and beyond the realm of politics."

Although no legislator could find "anything wrong with the bill," Glogsky said, the original emergency preamble, by which the law could have taken immediate effect, was voted down. This means that the incorporators cannot legally establish the corporation for 90 days.

But the incorporators, who include Herter and Pusey, will probably hold preliminary meetings in July, State Senator Philip A. Graham, the bill's sponsor, predicted. Many bankers, who are supposed to provide the guarantees under the bill's provisions, have shown "enthusiasm," he explained.

"The phrasing of the law is very broad," Graham explained, "and permits the corporation to give loans as well as to guarantee them." Funds will be available to Massachusetts residents for their last three years of study at any college in the country.

Members of the corporation will guarantee undergraduate loans at regular lending agencies, but may also issue up to 1000 shares of stock at $100 each to provide initial working capital.