"The U.S. Department of Education and SLM Corp., the mammoth student lender known as Sallie Mae, are embroiled in a contract dispute that could delay efforts to shore up the student-loan market," The Wall Street Journal reports. "The hostilities revolve around who will be paid to process student loans that the Education Department buys from private lenders. Sallie Mae filed a protest last month with the U.S. Government Accountability Office over the department's decision to steer its new loan-processing business to Affiliated Computer Services Inc., without seeking competitive bids. Affiliated, a Dallas-based company, has provided other loan-processing services to the department since 1993. The case reflects the financial pressures facing private lenders as they grapple with subsidy cuts and struggle to raise lending capital."