Credit crunch squeezes student loans; Alcoa profit halved
CBS
Transcript
the credit crunch is making it harder to get a college education a recent survey found 43% of private colleges said one or more lenders on their preferred List have stopped offering student loans and those still loaning to students have tightened their standards many are now requiring a co-signer with excellent credit federal student loans are still available but caps on how much students can borrow have lagged far behind College costs on Wall Street stocks finished near the Flatline the Dow inched Up 3 point but the NASDAQ fell six Alcoa kicked off earning season on Wall Street the aluminum giant said profit last quarter was slashed in half because of high energy costs and the weak dollar today investors will be watching for the latest weekly sales figures from Big retailers along with a report on pending home sales for February and the rich may be starting to feel the pinch of the slowing economy the latest report on Auto Sales shows luxury car dealers are now struggling as well Mercedes-Benz sales Dro nearly 4% in March BMW saw a nearly 9% drop and at Lexus sales were down 133% that's your money watch click on cbsnews.com for more business headlines in New York I'm Alexis christopherus