For instance, there has been plenty of concern about current practices in the lending and financial aid industry harming students. Yet, I haven’t heard how. I haven’t heard a single interest rate quoted. I haven’t heard a single parent asked about what assistance they request from financial aid administrators (FAAs). I haven’t heard any questions about the existence of resources outside the financial aid office to help parents navigate the ocean of higher education financing.

There has been plenty of alarm about financial aid administrators participating on lender advisory boards. Yet, I haven’t heard any questions about the many ways loan products have changed based on feedback from FAAs about what students need and want.

There has been plenty of unease about the "kickbacks" that FAAs receive by working in financial aid. Yet, I haven’t heard any questions about how FAAs serve students. If they did, they might hear about College Goal Sunday, The Carnival of Learning, Journey to College, about evening exit counseling sessions and debt management sessions and open house programs and the countless hours that FAAs volunteer for their state association of financial aid administrators, students and parents.

There has been outrage about the existence of opportunity loans, yet no questions about why they might be needed, who they are given to and what lengthy application process, vetting and one-on-one counseling that goes into each approved loan of last resort. I haven’t seen a single interview with a student who received one of these loans to ask where they would be now if that loan was not available to them.

There has been criticism of lenders for providing co-branded brochures to schools and "gifts" of more than ten dollars. Yet, I haven’t heard any questions about why these brochures are necessary, how they help manage the plethora of options available to families who are already overwhelmed with the expectations placed on them during their college search process. If they did, they might find out that the pens, sticky notes, highlighters and candy are passed along to students who gobble them up at front desks like a ten dollar bill lying on the ground. They might also find out that many of these lenders have worked in a financial aid office and now gain professional satisfaction in helping to make their colleagues lives manageable and create more time for students, regardless of whether they get loan business from the school or not. I haven’t heard any questions about who dictates the content of the brochures and how it is displayed, or what will happen if schools can no longer partner with lenders to produce brochures. If they did, they might learn that lenders regularly print exactly what schools ask them to print and that limited financial aid budgets don’t and won’t include any increases for outside printing costs.

There has been continued attack on the lender-staffing of call centers, yet no questions about the response time that these call centers are able to provide year-round and their ability to efficiently manage well-trained counselors who strictly adhere to school provided scripts and counseling style. If they did, they might learn of the extended hold times and repeated voicemail messages that families would be subject to if schools must rely on in-house financial aid counselors or the quality controls in place to ensure consistency of information.

As the landscape broadens and raises more and more public and private attention, I hope that true investigation will begin. And as necessary questions are asked, all involved will see the TRUTH.