''If we had real leadership in the White House,'' Edwards said, ''we could take that money and give it to students who desperately need help.''

Banks that provide college loans are guaranteed a risk-free return on their investment, set by Congress, because some students inevitably default on their loans.

Kerry's campaign contends that banks make almost $1 billion a year from the 9.5 percent guarantee on loans that are financed by tax-exempt bonds issued before 1993, all because of a loophole in a 1993 law that had been meant to rein in the rates.

The campaign says President Bush and the Education Department could close the loophole at anytime but have not acted, and it accused Bush of using ''federal college aid to pad corporate profits and block access to college.''

However, Dave Schnittger, a spokesman for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that Bush's budget called for the elimination of the 9.5 percent rate but that the change failed in Congress.

''Congressional Democrats, including Kerry, blocked it,'' Schnittger said.