"A couple of years ago, [I wrote] a column about the perverse economics of the student-loan business," write James Surowiecki in The New Yorker. "It's a quintessential example of the 'heads the corporation wins, tail the government loses' business model--a model that many Wall Street firms are now reaping the benefits of--and over the years it made student lending a very profitable business to be in. Now it looks like there's a chance, at least, that the entire system is about to be overhauled."