Helpful News From IRS On Student Loan Bonds

On November 13, the IRS issued Notice 2015-78, providing favorable guidance on topics of interest to providers of "supplemental" or "alternative" student loans financed with tax-exempt bonds and to underwriters of such student loan bonds. Such guidance confirms that loans financeable under such programs include (i) parent loans as well as student loans and (ii) loans that refinance or consolidate prior loans that were or could have been financed on a tax-exempt basis.

Tax-exempt bonds used to finance student loans, so-called "qualified student loan bonds," come in two flavors under the Internal Revenue Code, those issued to finance federally-guaranteed loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan Program ("FFELP") and those issued to finance certain loans issued under programs created by the states, generally known as "supplemental" or "alternative" loan programs. While the FFELP program, historically much larger, terminated in 2010, tax-exempt financing for