Sallie Mae agrees to take over...

It's not clear what the end result of this will mean to students, but it's being reported today that Sallie Mae will be bought by a group of private investors for roughly $25 billion, a deal that comes as the $85 billion college loan industry faces increased scrutiny from regulators.

The group, led by private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co., will pay $60 per share for the Reston, Va.-based SLM Corp., commonly referred to as Sallie Mae. The sale price represents a nearly 50 percent premium for Sallie Mae's previously sagging stock before takeover rumors emerged late last week. The news of this made SLM shares jump nearly 18 percent in early trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange on the buyout news.

J.C. Flowers and private-equity firm Friedman Fleischer & Lowe will invest $4.4 billion and own 50.2 percent of the company, and Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase each will invest $2.2 billion and each will own 24.9 percent. The buyers will also provide Sallie Mae with $200 billion in backup financing.