More Private Ed news

First Marblehead securitized another $1.5 billion of private student loans today. These are non-FFELP. This event underscores the demand for private (or alternative) student loans. First Marblehead has an underwriting, disbursement, and funding platform available to marketers, they sign up marketers to drive product into their pipeline. This is a typical model in the private education loan space. As a result, a large majority of private ed loans may appear to be made by the company marketing the product, but are probably concentrated into a handful of ultimate lenders. This isn’t bad….but isn’t good either….it’s just the way this particular market has evolved.