BOSTON -- Across the country, students and families are scrambling to pay college tuitions after several large corporate lenders pulled out of the student loan business this week.

Students Scramble To Get School Loans

NewsCenter 5's Jorge Quiroga reported that the Catalano family was visiting Boston on Friday from Syracuse, N.Y., looking at colleges with their son, Matthew.

"It's a big concern, you know? Fortunately, we got a good financial aid package from Lasell (College) and we are quite happy with that," said Joe Catalano.

"It's a big concern to me. It costs a lot of money. And when I get out of school, I'll have tons of loans," student Dustin Holroyd said.

More big corporate lenders are pulling out of the student loan industry. The move puts added stress on colleges like Lasell, where tuition, room and board make up 86 percent of the budget. Four out of five students at Lasell depend on financial aid.

"So if our students can't be here, the bottom line is that we certainly are going to feel the pinch," said Michele Kosboth, director of student financial planning at Lasell.

The student loan crisis is the latest domino to fall after the subprime mortgage crisis. In order to fill the classrooms next fall, small colleges with limited endowments are being forced into the lending business.

Lasell has a $23 million endowment, but with 1,200 students, the funding is spread thin.

"It's going to be on a case-by-case basis where we are going to identify the students who simply do not have any other resources," Kosboth said.

Using work-study to help pay tuition, Sarah Turnage said the cost of college as added stress for her parents.

"I have a brother and a sister, so they have to also think about after me putting two other kids through college," she said.

Some colleges are looking to the federal government to help ease the credit crunch for the short term.