Connie Lee - College Construction Loan Insurance Association - CCLIA

Connie Lee might ring a bell, right? Wasn’t she the girl who sat in the first row of your middle school math class? Or was she the woman who tried to sell you a series of hair products at the mall last week? It’s a pretty common, memorable name. And that’s the point.

Connie Lee is the nickname of a government-sponsored enterprise that aimed to provide colleges, universities, and other groups in the higher-education space with debt to pay for new buildings and other structures. The name stands for College Construction Loan Insurance Association, meaning it’s abbreviated like other groups such as Sallie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae.

Connie Lee’s existence was short-lived. Ambac Financial took the GSE private in 1997 for a reported $106 million.