With his sleek silver suit and menacing bald head, Dr. Evil from “Austin Powers” holds the world at ransom at the price tag of $100 billion, raises his pinkie to his lip and laughs maniacally, “Muwhahaha.”

But according to the Government Accountability Office, it’s the student loan companies that have the last laugh — and Dr. Evil’s payoff. For the last decade, these companies have taken advantage of the loophole that Congress failed to end. These huge subsidies have added up to nearly $1 billion this year alone.

All this money could have gone back to students to provide better college funding, but instead, the Department of Education has sat on its thumbs, claiming there is no quick fix to the problem. Although the department agrees the subsidies — which guarantee a 9.5 percent interest rate for loan companies, while students are only paying 3.4 percent — should be reduced, it says there is nothing that can be done immediately.

And while nothing gets done, the difference in those interests goes straight into the pockets of the companies and out of taxpayer pockets.

“The report makes it clear that the department is sitting on its hands while billions of dollars are being diverted away from higher education to banks,” U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told The New York Times.

Congress is quick to bite its tongue, though. While it points fingers at the education department, education officials call for Congress to put a stop to the subsidies — something it tried to do in 1993 and failed to get passed. Currently, the House has passed an amendment to a bill to temporarily halt subsidy payments this year, but it has stalled in the Senate.

Major reforms are needed — and quickly. The Times reports these huge payments account for 78 percent of all subsidies paid to lenders, even though they account for only about 8 percent of the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

Congress is taking the correct step in stamping out the subsidies — at least for this year. The education department must then pick up the reigns, trudging through a legal standard that is likely to take two to three years to complete. The fix isn’t fast enough for students who are in college now, but it will circumvent companies from expanding this type of loan.

With costs of higher education skyrocketing to territory where only the well-off may be able to attend, it is a travesty to turn over $1 billion to profit-seeking corporations instead of students.