Sometimes it takes a scandal or two to change an industry. After hearing about all the bank kickbacks to schools and dirty deals on campus in the student loan industry, there's finally some good news coming. The House and Senate have a plan that will disburse $5 billion that the banks stole from taxpayers, students and parents through their atrocious student loan practices. The plan will be phased in over a number of years and has a lot of great provisions. First, the interest rate on student loans will drop from seven percent to just over three percent over the next several years. Second, there will be new procedures in place by 2009 for the PLUS loans that parents take out. The new rules will be very clear and banks will have to bid against each other for the right to write these loans in each state. Third, there will be a loan forgiveness program that amounts to $4,000/year for teachers of science and math and any teacher who works in a high-needs public school. Finally, members of the military, law enforcement, firefighters, nurses, public defenders, librarians and early childhood teachers will be granted full loan forgiveness after 10 years. That means their balance will be wiped away if they make the minimum payments on time for a decade! The best part of it all is that not one cent for these programs will come out of taxpayers' pockets. All the funding is coming from the money the banks stole in the first place.