How the U.S. first provided federal student loan funding — due to a Russian event.

On October 1957 while *White* America was enjoying the spoils of 1950’s consumerism, a new space object called Sputnik reached the solar system for the first time ever.

The only problem? It came from the Russians — a communist country what was entangled in a Cold-War with the U.S. at the time. Basically, it was a race between who #1 top-dog in the world.

As a result of Sputnik, the U.S. signed the National Defense Education Act in 1958, the first ever federally backed student loan program which helped Science & Math programs in High Schools and Colleges.

Here’s a video clip on how it took place.