Education Lending Group, Inc. Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Financialaid.Com

SAN DIEGO, CA – Education Lending Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDLG) announced today the acquisition of Financialaid.com, LLC, a San Diego-based online college loan marketing leader. Financialaid.com has been a marketing partner of Education Lending Group for more than three years and, as a result of the transaction, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of EDLG. Education Lending Group plans to relocate Financialaid.com’s business operations to EDLG’s offices in San Diego, California during the first half of 2005. The transaction is accretive to earnings in 2004, and the company expects it to be accretive on a going-forward basis.

Robert deRose, Chairman and CEO of EDLG stated, “We are extremely pleased to make Financialaid.com an important part of our company. Their strength in student loan marketing via the Internet will greatly accelerate the growth of our online products and services division, enabling us to provide even better service to students, parents and schools.”

Michael O’Brien, CEO and Co-Founder of Financialaid.com, LLC, commented, “We welcome this opportunity to become a part of Education Lending Group. They’ve been a valued marketing partner of Financialaid.com since our inception and this move will enhance the growth of both companies. With EDLG, Financialaid.com will now be able to offer a full complement of student loan products, including private loans for education, through our web-based channels.”

Michael Shaut, President and COO of EDLG, added, “Bringing Financialaid.com into our company has been a goal for us for some time. Financialaid.com and its newly launched web sites CampusDirt.com and CampusClix.com comprise an extremely popular brand amongst current and prospective college students, their parents and schools. This acquisition will enable us to decrease costs of loan originations and provide significant systems development efficiencies as we integrate our technical development capabilities.”

About Education Lending Group, Inc.
Education Lending Group (www.educationlendinggroup.com) is a specialty finance company principally engaged in providing student loan products, services and solutions to students, parents, schools and alumni associations. Our business is focused on originating and purchasing guaranteed student loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, known as FFELP, including consolidation loans, Stafford loans and Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS).

About Financialaid.com, LLC
Financialaid.com was established in March 2000 to help parents and students find the money they need to pay for college. Through its industry- best student loan counselors, expert editorial content and free scholarship and college search engines, Financialaid.com guides students and their parents through the college selection, scholarship application and education funding processes. In addition to its higher education financing channel through financialaid.com, the company’s family of college-related sites embodies its ongoing commitment to deliver leading edge services, products and benefits to students, parents and college graduates. The sites include:

CampusDirt.com: The website that gives students and parents the insider’s perspective on life at more than 825 U.S. colleges.

RateYourCampus.com: Where undergrads and grads rate their college experience online.

CampusClix.com: The new social networking site that helps current and prospective college students and alumni connect to their campus communities.