In 1972, the Student Loan Marketing Association-commonly known as Sallie Mae- was established to make borrowing money for college much easier than it had been before. Sallie Mae was created by amendments to the Higher Education Act and served as a source of liquidity for the federal student loan program, allowing more students to access loans and making the process more streamlined and accessible

. This development revolutionized college borrowing by providing a reliable mechanism for students to secure educational loans, which helped expand access to higher education across the United States