"Five months after the collapse of the $330 billion auction-rate securities market, bonds backed by student loans show no signs of recovering," Bloomberg News reports. "The $85 billion of auction-rate securities sold by state agencies and private lenders to finance student loans are emerging as the most toxic type since Wall Street dealers abandoned the auction-rate market in February amid worries about the financial health of the bond insurers who guaranteed the debt. The collapse of the auction-rate market compounded the financial problems for lenders after Congress last year cut the subsidies it makes to those who sell bonds backed by federally guaranteed loans."