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“Another big beneficiary of the government’s policy of requiring most students to borrow money to get an education and then shielding the lenders from risk is Catherine B. Reynolds, the head of a nonprofit foundation in McLean, Virginia, bearing her name. Despite its legal status as a nonprofit, the Reynolds Foundation does business as EduCap and refers to itself as a company. It pays like one, too. Reynolds makes a million dollars a year from the foundation even though it has assets of only about $200 million. Her salary is many times what the executives of charitable foundations of that size typically make.

“Her job comes with an unusual perk. This perk must be disclosed, but the foundation-cum-company did its best to obscure the perk, which it described this way: ‘Based on the recommendation of an independent security review, the corporation has implemented certain security measures including security-related services for officers and directors. The value of any services provided for any incidental personal use is treated as a fringe benefit to the recipient.’