Sallie Mae could gain, lose jobs

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The months ahead could be critical for the Fishers office of Sallie Mae. The lender could gain hundreds of jobs, but there's a chance it could lose jobs as well.

On Monday, the company announced it is returning its overseas operations to the U.S. That could mean some of the 500 jobs the Fishers office lost last year, could be coming back. Fishers lost those jobs when Sallie Mae moved them to Mexico and the Philippines. The student loan provider sent a total 2,000 jobs out of the country.

Sallie Mae has said that 600 of those jobs will go to its Pennsylvania operation. The Fishers office has yet to find out how many might come back here.

"We're going to be making decisions over the next 18 months that are going to be based on capacity of the facility, the expertise available in the area and just other business decisions that we need to make at the time. And Indiana will definitely be one of the areas that we will seriously be looking at," said Jerry Maher, Sallie Mae.

At the same time, Sallie Mae could possibly lose jobs. The Obama Administration has proposed ending a program that pays government subsidies to private student loan companies like Sallie Mae.

The administration said having the government handle federal loans directly would save taxpayers billions of dollars each year.
Indiana Congressman Dan Burton said he'll fight the effort.

"If the government goes into the direct lending program in its entirety, I think it will be inefficient, it will end up being more costly, it will not be able to provide the services that they provide here. And I think that will be a real detriment to education," said Congressman Burton.

Sallie Mae employs about 2300 people in Fishers and Muncie.