Many issuers of the debt are now refinancing these obligations (because they do not want to pay the higher re-set rates) which will help begin to ease the seizing up of the whole market. A lot of the refinancings I have seen are in the municipal sector, but I would imagine similar work is underway in the student loan sector, although I don't know for sure. This will take time to play out in its entirety, but to list the ARS as a short-term investment (essentially meaning it can be turned into cash in less than 12 months) is an indication that management and our audit firm (even though a Q itself is not audited) have deliberated on the matter and determined the treatment to be proper (for now). I have read a few other Q's issued by other companies that have the same situation, and I did not see any of them recording impairment charges (yet), but you can be sure they are monitoring it constantly and weighing all options based on the quality of the instrument and their short term cash needs vs. the options avaliable for quick liquidation.
