The Reagan Administration's proposals concerning the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) Program and possible alternatives are examined. A variety of proposals are analyzed in terms of the estimated cost savings and potential effects on the supply of and demand for student loans. Background is also included on the history of legislative changes and causes of growth in the program. The Reagan Administration's recommended reforms for GSL, which closely follow President Carter's final budget proposals, would: eliminate the in-school interest subsidy on all new loans, limit eligibility for the new less subsidized loans to the amount of a borrower's demonstrated financial need, and change a market rate of interest for the recently authorized parent loan option under the program. The Administration intends these changes to affect loans made on or after July 1, 198l. It is suggested that while the Administration's intent is to reduce the amount of subsidy and bar the well-off from borrowing under the program, the effect is likely to be more far-reaching on both the supply and demand for student loans. The danger is that student loans would be drastically curtailed for the needy as well as the non-needy. It is claimed that large-scale, short-term cost reductions cannot be achieved without seriously disrupting the plans and decisions of both students and schools, and that the focus of reform should be on achieving effective, longer-term cost controls. Most strategies for controlling GSL costs fall into one of four categories: make GSL less attractive to borrowers, restrict student eligibility for loans, reduce the rate of return to lenders, and limit the volume of lending. It is suggested that an index of need that determines both the borrower eligibility and permissible loan is the most direct and reasonable way to control program costs and reduce excessive borrowing. (SW)