http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/91766629.htmlKILLEEN (April 21, 2010)—Killeen will lose one of its largest employers when student lender Sallie Mae closes its call center in Killeen, eliminating nearly 500 jobs.
Sallie Mae announced Wednesday it will close the Killeen facility and another in Panama City, Fla. as part of a restructuring plan aimed at trimming 1,200 jobs companywide this year and 1,300 jobs next year.
The company attributes the restructuring to legislation approved in March that ends the bank-based system of distributing federally subsidized loans to students.
The change was part of the reconciliation bill that also included health care legislation changes that the president signed at the end of March.
Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, who represents the Fort Hood area in the U.S. House, opposed the federal takeover of the student loan industry and predicted earlier that if the measure passed, it would mean job losses locally.
“I have been saying for months now that this takeover of the student loan industry would devastate local economies, and would cost people their jobs,†Carter said
