For several months student loans have continued to mirror other types of loans, with less money available to fewer people. Over the past couple of months, we've seen privately-issued loans from companies such as Wachovia and Bank of America, disappear.

At the same time, an increasing number of state-funded loan programs such as New Hampshire and Massachusetts have simply dried up.

Realizing the need to provide loans to insure education remains accessible in these times of sky-high tuitions, there's a lot of action going on to help alleviate the situation. In Massachusetts, bonds are being issued to fund undergrad loans. To help make the bonds successful, and to make money immediately available, the governor is seeking investments in these bonds from groups as diverse as the state pension fund and Harvard University.

And schools are scurrying to provide information to students and parents about other sources of money, such as federally subsidized loans.

So the news is not all good, but it's very clear that people in government and education are working to alleviate some of these issues as quickly as possible. For more information, see the federal student loans website.