Student Loan & School Loan

President George W. Bush Speaks On The Brewing Student Loan Crisis

2008-04-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

In his weekly radio address, President Bush spoke about the brewing
crisis in the student loan markets. WATCH VIDEO

In his address he mentioned the “Lender of Last Resort Program” for
student who cannot secure funding for college. He further mentioned
the need for the ability of the govenment to step in and buy the loans
when necesarry to provide liquidity to the system.

He also signaled to the Senate get something started, as the House of
has already passed the ”Insuring Continuing Accessing Student Loans
Act” and the Senate has yet to act on the issue.

The Presdent would need a bill on his desk, before June 1, 2008 to avoid
any major problems with loans for the September Semester.

The parent’s role on the students’ quest for federal assistance - Part 3

2008-04-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

Student Loan Consolidation

While student loans have helped many students by enabling them to pursue further studies by providing financial assistance, it can also be an emotionally and mentally exhausting journey.

Repaying a large student loan or multiple student loans can be a long burden, which extends many years, well into your working years. Many student’s who have graduated, find himself or herself having to set aside a large portion of their salary just to repay the student loans. It is not unheard of to have to repay a student loan for as long as 10 to 15 years.

So what solution is available to help? A student loan consolidation plan may be able to help you particularly if you are repaying several student loans concurrently. A student loan consolidation plan consolidate your student loans into one loan thus you only need to make one payment each month.

There are several types of student loan consolidation plans available depending on whom you lend it from. An example of a federal student loan consolidation is student loan consolidation from the Student Loan Consolidator. Check with your school or lender for more information or the Internet.

There are several ways in which you can repay a student loan consolidation. The most common is a standard repayment plan. You repay a fixed amount every month until you fully repay the loan.

A graduated payment plan allows you to repay the student loan after you have graduated. It is suited for students who have no income during studies and only able to repay when they graduated and have a job.

A variable payment plan allows you to adjust how much you repay each month depending on your income level. It allows a greater flexibility and is more suited for people whose income varies each month. An example would be salesmen who earn via commission.

Another advantage of student loan consolidation is that it also helps to improve credit rating. Since you are effectively getting a new loan and your existing loans have already been cleared, it will help to improve your credit rating and easier to get financial assistance should you need one in future.

It is sometimes beneficial in getting a federal student loan consolidation loan as the interest rates are one of the lowest available and the government loan is open to anyone having studied in an American Education Institution. However, if you are nearing the end of your student loan repayment, then it is often not worth it to get a student loan consolidation.

Learn About Student Loan Consolidation To Help You Save Money

2008-04-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Do you have multiple student loans for which you are making multiple payments per month? With student loan consolidation, you can merge all of your loans into a single loan with one payment per month.

Here Are 6 Benefits Of Consolidating Your Student Loans?

1. Easy to maintain, single payments per month.

2. Enables you to have manageable repayments of your student loan after you have graduated, especially if you had huge student loans.

3. Student loan consolidation is also beneficial to those students who have graduated; but find that they're still having difficulties managing the payments of all of the student loans they acquired to cover their college fees.

4. A more organized and cost effective plan, with lower interest rates will help you save some money.

5. A long term plan to paying your loan, giving you a longer timeframe to pay for your loan.

6. A longer payment plan also means a lower monthly payment, which gives you more flexibility.

You have an option to increase your monthly payments if you are able to, thus shortening the overall time frame for your repayments, and making you debt free sooner.

It is very simple to apply for a student loan consolidation. Lending institutions vary in their requirements and specifications for eligibility. Some of the information that is usually asked for is personal information, list of loans and contact information.

If you are considering consolidating your loan, it is recommended that you research on the offers from a few selected lending institutions and identify an offer that is most suited for their needs.

While your application for student loan consolidation is being processed, it’s important that you continue paying for their existing loans.

Students have the convenience of applying online. Once they have been accepted they would receive a notification email that relates to all of the necessary information about the new payment plan. The lending institution would pay all the existing loans. The borrowers would have to keep up with the payments for their consolidated student loans.

If a student has any questions, it is recommended that they seek out the assistance of a loan councilor to get the advice and evaluation of a loan expert.

If you are looking for an efficient and cost effective way of managing your student loans, then student loan consolidation is for you. With a consolidated loan, you gain more financial freedom and you save some money through lower interest rates.

Dean Shainin is a consultant specializing in student loan consolidation. Get valuable resources, tools, information and more articles on student loan consolidation, visit this site: http://www.studentloanconsolidationtips.com

Get free valuable online tips for debt consolidation from his: Student Loan Consolidation website.

ezConsolidation Debt Consolidation Services

2008-04-28T16:49:00.001-07:00

Debt management plan is designed by debt consolidation and settlement specialists to help those individuals that have piled on a fair bit of debt to relieve the burden of multiple bills and to allow them to focus on budgeting and managing their lives. EZ bad credit debt consolidation plan can help anyone [ even with poor credit or bankruptcy ] who is looking to get back on the path of financial freedom if they are able to have the wisdom to stick to it.

Credit card counseling and debt consolidation services provider company is here to help you save money by reducing interest rates, getting yourself out of credit card debt, lowering your monthly payments, avoiding bankruptcy, paying off those nagging bills & monthly loan payments and have only one monthly payment as much as $300, $450, even $500 or more. Ask now for affordable debt management plan by filling out the form below.

By utilizing debt settlement program , you are capable of relief from your current budget. It will allow you to bring down your current monthly payments on your debt and as a result, you have more cash available in order to spend on other things that you may need. Not only this, but some of the options available to you will also allow you to get some tax benefits in the process.

ezConsolidation Debt Consolidation Services

2008-04-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

The parent’s role on the students’quest for federal assistance - Part 2

2008-04-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Even though many scholars and other behavioral investigators have “skillfully” determined that this is not a factor, common sense tells us otherwise, so much so, that countries that have strong family structures see the less amount of criminal behavior amongst their young.

When the children are born and until they reach mental and physical maturity, it is the responsibility of the parents to provide them with structure and stability enough for them to form and make their own perception of the importance of family. It most likely will not matter what type of family as long as the moral, ethical and social guidelines are respected. Gay couples must abide just the same as heterosexual ones to the same moral, ethical and social guidelines. However, this is subject of a different discussion.

Parents need to prepare for their child’s need to advance his or her studies. Being caught without any preparation does not mean that is the end of the world but it can make it harder.

• Prepare in advance

It might sound trivial and over used, but setting aside at least a small part of the paycheck to prepare for higher education costs is definitely a good idea. Do not leave your children’s opportunity of a better future in the hands of fortune, whether or not they might qualify for a student loan or federal education assistance.

Tradition says that the best way to go is to put the money on a savings account. This is not such a good idea, though it is far better than having nothing at all. And ideal scenario is to set aside the money and then invest it. There are different investments available and each investing executive can provide sufficient information for even the nonprofessionals to understand and be able to handle their own investments.

However, there are some points to be considered:

o To a longer period, the sum of money stays invested, the bigger that the gains will be.

Most banking and investing institutions provide several investing terms: 28 days, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and so on. When a person invests in a banking institution, the bank makes the commitment to maintain the interest rate for the investment within a interest rate range, in this manner, if the market crashed or inflation increases, the investor will loose as little as possible of his or her economical capacity on the sum that was invested.

Investments can be on a banking institution or on a investing institution that specializes on the investing of private money. Additionally, parents can invest on real estate.

o Investment on banking institutions

Consolidating Student Loans

2008-04-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

With higher education costs on the rise, many people these days have several student loans. These are not just medical students with several loans, but average students at public universities. It can help for those trying to pay them off to consolidate student loans into one bill and thus one payment. There are many advantages to having one loan besides the single payment each month though. Some that you may not be aware of are lower interest rates, a way to improve your credit rating, lowering monthly payments.

Applying for an individual student loan can lower the interest rate because places offer incentives to use them for the loan. Some companies offer a lower rate for having the monthly payment automatically deducted from your account. There is also a benefit by making so many consecutive payments, on time, and that showing will lower the interest rate. This of course will make your payoff amount decrease since more money will go to the principle instead of interest.

Having a single student loan can help your credit rating because of how your credit score is figured. Part of the score is made up of how many outstanding debts you have as well as the total amount due to each. Getting a student consolidation loan will give you a higher loan amount due but only for one loan and not the several others that you currently may have. Thus, your score will go up and even get better as you pay off that loan. It will not be an instantaneous fix as credit companies can take up to six months to report a drop of a loan off your report. But if you don’t use your credit unwisely in this time period your score will raise and when you do apply for something at later time you can possibly get a lower interest rate for that loan as well. Which will have you making lower payments on that item and help you pay off that loan faster too?

Of course a single payment with a lower interest rate is going to give you lower monthly payments. Owing several companies with their own payment rates can make the total paid each month much more. One lump payment is going to be lower just for the reason that only one creditor is loaning the money with one rate. And each of these companies will have their own interest rate, which changes the payment. An individual loan will have more of the payment going to pay off that loans interest and principle at once over several loans where it can vary from loan to loan how much is paying it off. And most importantly right now rates are very low and getting a consolidation loan can also have you paying less because your rate can drop tremendously, depending on what it was before. While it can start your loan term back to the length it was when you got the student loan, with lower payments and a lower interest rate, you should be able to pay it off even faster and get out of student loan debt quicker than if you kept the individual loans.

For more information on student loan consolidation visit our online debt consolidation blog.

Student Loan Debt Consolidation - How To Reduce The Burden Of Student Loan Debt

2008-04-25T20:00:00.001-07:00

It’s not enough as a student earning good grades, graduating, and landing a job with a good salary. What makes it more difficult is the rising costs of education, in tuition fees, books and the cost of living during the years being in school. There is no question that the trends of college and university prices have rose steadily over that last decade. During the 2004-2005 academic year about $129 billion in financial aid was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, these students borrowed almost $14 Billion dollars from non-federal sources to help finance their education according to the report Trends in Student Aid (2005) from the College Board association. With an adjustment to inflation the total financial aid given to undergraduate and graduate students has increased by almost 100% from 1994 to 2005.

Why have students been borrowing much more today?

There has been a widening gap between the cost of university and college tuition and aid in the form of grants causing students to borrow more. Many students look at taking students loans as a good investment because it allows them to complete their education with better odds of a getting a better job and life. Because Students are borrowing more and often taking out multiple student loans today, however, it could lead to financial burdens. This would delay things like buying a new home, car, getting married, and raising a family.

How can student loan consolidation help?

Also known as a federal consolidation loan, repays some or all of the outstanding eligible federal student loans and replaces the multiple payments that are made with one single payment. The payment terms can even be extended to make the payments more affordable. The interest rates are fixed rate for the entire term and is calculated as the weighted average interest rates of your consolidated loans rounded up to 1/8% not exceeding 8.25%.

Which student loans can be consolidated?

1. Federal and Federal Direct Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized)
2. Federal and Federal Direct PLUS SLS (Supplementary Loans for Students)
3. Federal Perkins
4. Federal Nursing Student Loans (NSL)
5. Federal Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL)
6. Federal Health Professional Student Loans (HPSL)
7. Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL) Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
8. Federal Insured Students Loans (FISL)

If a person has bad credit, can they still consolidate their student loans?

Under the federal student loan consolidation program, no credit checks are necessary, however, if any loans are in default, three consecutive payments must be made prior to consolidating the loans.

What lenders consolidate student loans?

The Internet is an excellent resource to compare student loan consolidation lenders rates and offers. It is just a matter to take some time and compare different incentives between lenders.

Lenders may offer added incentives to consolidate student loans. For example, depending on the balance of the current student loans, some lenders may offer a credit or an interest rate reduction if payments were made consecutively on time. Or, if a married couple has individual student loans and want to combine and consolidate their loans.

It should not be a strike against anyone requiring student loans to get through university or college nor having a delayed hardship when a person graduates and gets back into the work force.

Brad Jacobsen writes about student loan debt consolidation and you can read more articles, tips and helpful information including Free no obligation quotes at: www.ez-mortgage-quotes.com/consolidation+information+loan+student.htm http://www.ez-mortgage-quotes.com/consolidation+information+loan+student.htm

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Student Loans Consolidation Service Free Interesting Fact

2008-04-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

If your major interest is information related to Government Student Loans Consolidation or any other such as Refinance Student Loan Already Consolidated, Grants For Nursing Students, Us Direct Student Loans, Federal Student Loan Applications, Federal Insured Student Loan or Student Loan Direct UK, this article can prove useful.

Furthermore, if the monthly payments are just too high, student loan consolidation experts can still help you out. Typically, with consolidation you can stretch the repayment time from ten years to up to thirty years, which means your payments would be less. Actually, with the help of student loan consolidation experts, your new payments each month could be up to 54% less, than without consolidation. What a saving!

The federal loan is given by the government, while the private student loan is given by the private lending institutions. As these student loans have a higher interest rate, it is rather difficult to turn to student loan debt consolidation with these types of loans if you fall in debt.

File a Free Application for Financial Student Aid. Filing the FAFSA should not be put off. While the deadline for student loans isn’t terribly strict, most schools have a February 15th deadline to qualify for grants and other types of non-loan aid such as work-study, which may significantly decrease the amount of debt you owe when you’re finished with school. I suggest getting an application for the next year, as soon as they become available. This is usually right around the end of the year. Fill it out right after you get your tax documents, usually around the end of January.

BREATHER — As you pause on reading this article I hope it has so far provided you with insightful information related to Great Lakes Student Loans. Even if it hasn’t so far, the remainder will, whether your interest is Great Lakes Student Loans directly or other related angle such as Federal Student Loan Eligibility, Net Present Value Calculation, Consolidate Default Student Loans, Ns Student Loans, Government Of Canada Student Jobs and Manitoba Student Loan.

Alternative methods of borrowing money, student loans are far easier and less hassles. Many students have found that credit cards create a lifetime of trouble down the road; therefore, they simply are not suitable for charging food, gas, textbooks, or any other living expenses. Not to mention, just a bad way of managing money in general. With student loans, you will have the ability to live in a comfortable manner while attending college, with much lower rates of interest than those credit cards will charge.

So if you need finance for extra expenses, remember you can always apply for an unsecured personal loan and repay it in small affordable installments. This will assist you borrow only the money you really need and be in control over your expenses. When you have some practice, you’ll be able to deal with other financial products of a more complex nature.

As detailed as this article is, don’t forget that you can find more information about Government Student Loans Consolidation or any such information from any of the search engines out there such as MSN.com. Commit yourself to finding specific information therein about Government Student Loans Consolidation, and you will.

A student loan debt consolidation plan is often the most commonly used and the most effective way to pay off your various student loans. However, if your loan was funded by the government, many times you can pay it off through their student loan forgiveness program. This works by agreeing to do a viable service for the community during a specific period of time. You might be called on to do service as a primary and secondary school teacher which serves low income children, or you can serve in the armed forces or law enforcement for a specific period of time. When you complete your community service work then some or entire loan can be forgiven.

Many folks seeking online for articles related to Student Loans Consolidation Service also sought for articles about Direct GOV Student Loan, FAFSA Federal School Codes, and even My Federal Student Loan.

Student Loan Consolidation

2008-04-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

Student Loan Consolidation - How does it Work?
Student loans are a great source of financial aid for students who need help paying for their education. Unfortunately, students often leave college with burdensome debt. In addition, they often have multiple loans from different lenders, meaning they are writing more than one loan repayment check each month. The solution to this problem is loan consolidation.

What is loan consolidation?
Loan consolidation means bundling all your student loans into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You can think of loan consolidation as akin to refinancing a home mortgage. When you consolidate your student loans, the balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated loan. The end result is that you have only one student loan to pay on.

Both students and their parents can consolidate loans.Should I consolidate my loans?
Loan consolidation offers many benefits:
* Locks in a fixed, usually lower, interest rate for the term of your loan, potentially saving you thousands of dollars (depending on the interest rates of your original loans) * Lowers your monthly payment * Combines your student loan payments into one monthly bill
In addition, consolidated loans have flexible repayment options and no fees, charges, or prepayment penalties. There are also no credit checks or co-signers required.
You should consider consolidating your loans if the consolidation loan would have a lower interest rate than your current loans, particularly if you are having trouble making you monthly payments. However, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, consolidation may not be worth it.

How will the interest rate for the consolidated loan be?
The interest rate for your consolidated loan is calculated by averaging the interest rate of all the loans being consolidated and then rounding up to the next one-eighth of one percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent.
To figure your interest rate, visit loanconsolidation.ed.gov for an online calculator that will do the math for you.

How much can I save?
How much you save by consolidating loans depends on what interest rate you get and whether you choose to extend your repayment plan. According to Sallie Mae, the leading provider of student loans in the United States, consolidating student loans can reduce monthly payments by up to 54 percent. However, the only way to reduce your payment this much is to extend your repayment plan. You typically have 10 years to repay student loans, but, depending on the amount you're consolidating, you can extend your repayment plan all the way up to 30 years. Remember that if you choose to extend your repayment term, it will take longer to pay off your overall debt and you'll pay more in interest. There are no preypayment penalties, so you can always choose to pay off the loan early.

Am I eligible to consolidate my loans?
In order to consolidate your loans, you must meet the following criteria:
* You are in your six-month grace period following graduation or you have started repaying your loans * You have eligible loans totaling over $7,500 * You have more than one lender * You have not already consolidated your student loans, or since consolidation you have gone back to school and acquired new student loans
The following types of loans can be consolidated:
* Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans * Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans * Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans * Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans * Guaranteed Student Loans * Federal Insured Student Loans * Federal Supplemental Loans for Students * Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students * Federal Perkins Loans * National Direct Student Loans * National Defense Student Loans * Health Education Assistance Loans * Health Professions Student Loans * Loans for Disadvantaged Students * Nursing Student Loans

Where can I get a consolidation loan?
You can consolidate your loans through any bank or credit union that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or directly from the U.S. Department of Education. The loan terms and conditions are generally the same, regardless of where you consolidate. You may want to check first with the lenders that hold your current loans.
If all your loans are with one lender, you must consolidate with that lender.
If you decide to consolidate your student loans, remember that you can only do so once unless you go back to school and take out more loans. Therefore, you will want to make sure you get the best deal the first time. The interest rate will be the same from all lenders, but some lenders may offer future rate discounts for prompt payment and a discount for having monthly payments directly debited from your account.

Can my spouse and I consolidate our loans together?
You can consolidate your loans together, but it is not a good idea for a couple reasons:
* Both of you will always be responsible to repay the loan, even if you later separate or divorce * If you need to defer payment on the loan, both of you will have to meet the deferment criteria

When should I consolidate my loans?
You can consolidate your loans any time during your six-month grace period or after you have started repaying your loans. If you consolidate during your grace period, you may be able to get a lower interest rate. However, since you will lose the rest of the grace period, it is a good idea to wait until the fifth month of the grace period before consolidating. The consolidation process usually takes 30-45 days.
This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we're dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about Student Loan Consolidation at NexStudent.com.

Affordable Student Loans Need a Deferment Period

2008-04-24T18:48:00.001-07:00

Going to college takes a bunch of money these days! Invariably, most students end up with an amount due after their graduation and this amount will be more than the original borrowed amount. This is due to the fact many student loan include a deferment period. After all, how affordable would a student loan be if the student had to come up with monthly payments while he was in college?

This article talks about the student loan deferments and how they affect the bottom line. Namely, how much the student will be liable for after his education.

What is a deferment period?

When student loans are made, the first payment will not be due until after graduation or until the student quits school. This means the student can spend 4 years in college, graduate, get a job and then start paying back the loan.

One aspect of this type of loan that cannot be overlooked is during the deferment period the loan is accumulating interest. This means a loan of $20,000 can become $30,000 by the time the student starts to pay it off. This is a dirty deal, but it comes under the heading, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

The difference between a straight loan and a deferred one

Let’s look at how this works. If a person takes out a regular loan for $20,000 at 7% for 7 years, or 84 payments, and he is going to start paying on the first month, his payment will be $301.85 each month.

If a person takes out a deferred student loan for $20,000 at 7% for 7 years, or 84 payments, but the first payment isn’t due for 4 years, the total amount owed will have become 2,6441.08 by the time the first payment is due and the monthly payment will be $399.07. So, this is another wrinkle the student has to contend with to get that ever-important sheepskin.

It is important to get an accurate idea what the payments will be after graduation, you have to use a student loan calculator that includes an entry for the deferment period or else you won’t be getting the actual amount owed or monthly payment due when the payback period begins.

Another example

Let’s take another example. The student gets a loan for $35,000, which has a 10-year payoff period. The payments start after a 4 years and the interest rate is 7%. Here’s the way the numbers look for this loan. When the payments come due the total loan will have ballooned to $46,271.89 and the payment will be $537.26.

Now let’s complicate things a little more. The student may have to take a separate loan for each of the years he is in school. The lender may allow different deferment periods for each loan. So, he may end up with $20,000 deferred for 4 years, $20,000 deferred for 3 years, $20,000 deferred for 2 years and well, you get the idea.

In short, when dealing with student loans, don’t forget the deferment aspect to it. It can make a huge difference in the final numbers.

Affordable Student Loans Need a Deferment Period

2008-04-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

This article talks about the student loan deferments and how they affect the bottom line. Namely, how much the student will be liable for after his education.

What is a deferment period?

The difference between a straight loan and a deferred one

Another example

In short, when dealing with student loans, don’t forget the deferment aspect to it. It can make a huge difference in the final numbers.

The parent’s role on the students’quest for federal loan assistance

2008-04-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

A couple decides to get married and then proceeds to have children. Each one of their children will require sustenance, divertimento, and education. It is of this latter part than most parents will devote endless white nights trying to make the right decision and provide their offspring with the best possible education available.

Despite the fact that most basic education begins at home, when parents strive to teach the children the basic rules of moral, ethics and acceptable social behavior. As soon as they grow older and the natural anxiety of the children begins to overwhelm them with needs of exploring the world for themselves as well as their own need of a higher education, parents see themselves relinquished into the background and often shushed.

Even when shushing parents is a regular and quite standard situation amongst all half grown up children since the beginning of teen hood and way deep into adulthood parents should remain present along the way. At least until the child has finally finished his or her schooling and achieve a degree, diploma, certificate or whatever it is that his or her chosen profession issues to the fully prepared professional.

Of course, none of this is easy and it requires additional levels of patience both from the side of the child as from the side of the parent.

This is ever more so evident when the child reaches the high level of education requirements.

Most households realize that their children are already grown up when the need for the child to present his or her applications to the different universities comes. When they realize, in no low degree of horror, that even with all the warning of the years behind, they did not prepare and did not consider the possibility that the child would require them to enter a high-cost educational institution.

As a result, the child might perceive that his or her dreams of a successful and fruitful life have come crashing down and that there is no more hope to revive them. Even if this is not entirely true. In turn, the relationship between parents and children will grow tenser until it bursts in constant quarrels and discussions with the evident death.

The destruction of the family is not a laughing matter. Years of cruel and unbelievable events such as Columbine, Virginia Tech and the like have proved that family life is the angle stone on which most of society’s problems are emerged and counteracted.

The Student Loan Market Hits the Wall

2008-04-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

Student loans - those of us who have them would love to get rid of them, and now, those who want them apparently can’t get them.

The credit crunch has now started hitting the student loan markets, and what used to be a no-brainer prospect - financing your secondary education - is becoming as difficult a proposition as qualifying for a mortgage. The split in the analogy, though, is that while housing prices are cooling to the point where a perfectly qualified mortgage applicant can get a really nice deal on a home, tuition prices are as predictably high as ever.

When I was your age, student loan money grew on trees, and all you had to do was pick up a wheelbarrow and stand under one, and wait for a gentle breeze to blow loose those thick, ripe wads of tuition dollars onto the ground. We would laugh and play and cavort in piles of the stuff as the sun dipped below the horizon, then we would pack our harvest into our carriers and stroll off to our college campuses, our bellies filled with hopes and dreams.

Well, okay, so it wasn’t as easy as that. But compared to today’s circumstances, it certainly feels that way.

The root of the problem is this - so many student loan companies have left the industry, either by choice or by just going bankrupt, that the universe of options for financing your college education is much narrower than it was before. In fact, the only big player in the game is now Sallie Mae, which, by virtue of being big, survived the current crisis (brought on by the effects of the subprime collapse, the credit crunch, and a reduction in federal subsidies to student lenders) but is presently losing money on its loans, and is threatening to stop writing federally-backed loans altogether.

If you are to believe Sallie Mae, their loan demand is running at 3 billion dollars a month, and the company has access to only 1 billion dollars in high-cost funds. All of this points to a potential crisis in student loan availability this summer, as students prepare to enter college. There are some horror stories out there about people who are already well into college who had their loan checks bounce as the new semester began.

The implosion of the student loan market not only affects people just starting college and post graduate studies, it also affects people who have already graduated. One of the best things that you can do after graduation is student loan consolidation - it tidies up your loan payments and locks you into a lower interest rate. But now, most lenders, even Sallie Mae, have exited the federal student loan consolidation business, thus removing one of the most viable options for new graduates who are coping, many for the first time, with the demands of budgeting and money management.

I’m not sure how helpful I can be here, other than to wave the red flag and warn everyone who is planning on attending school in the fall and not thinking too heavily about loan availability. For most high school seniors, setting up financing is probably the last thing on their minds right now, and they’re probably relying on their parents to do a lot of the legwork for them. For parents, they may still be thinking that student loans are as easy to obtain as they were, oh, about 12 months ago, and don’t realize how badly impacted the student loan market has become.

Do someone a favor - if you know someone who is planning on going to college this year, or have a coworker whose son or daughter is in such a situation, let them know about the crisis in student loan availability, and tell them to get cracking on it earlier than they would have otherwise.

Student Loan Consolidation Repayment Options

2008-04-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

Making the decision to consolidate your student loans has a big impact on your financial future. There are a few repayment options that you have for repaying the loan.

Equal (or Standard) Repayment Plan

This repayment plan allows you to make equal monthly payments towards your loan. The advantage to choosing this payment option is that all of your eligible student loans are consolidated into one single payment. The term on these loans is typically 10 years.

Extended Repayment Plan

This plan is similar to the equal repayment plan in that you have a set amount to pay towards the loan every month. However, the schedule for the loan is extended up to 30 years. The monthly payments are much lower than that of the equal payment plan, but the total amount that you pay over the lifetime of the loan is much higher. This is because you have a lot more to pay in interest because of the longer schedule.

Graduated Repayment Plan

This plan starts with very low monthly payments which gradually increase every couple of years. This plan is excellent for those that want the payments to increase as their salary increases. The loan term can be up to 30 years depending on how much was borrowed. The payments cannot be 50% less and not more than 150% more than what would be paid under the equal repayment plan.

Income Sensitive Repayment

Under the income sensitive repayment plan, the monthly payment is calculated based on a percentage of your expected monthly income. This amount is then re-evaluated every year for up to 5 years.

It is important that you understand the impacts of consolidating your federal student loans for both the long term and short term. You need to understand the many options that you have for repayment in order to make the right decisions for your financial future.

To learn much more about private student loan consolidation and federal student loan consolidation, visit Student Loan Consolidation Info - Consolidation Info.

Article Source: Ryan Konecky - EzineArticles.com Expert Author

Student Loan Consolidation Advice

2008-04-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Unpaid student loans can lead to a real financial disaster if not managed properly. Student consolidation loans are an effective debt management strategy highly beneficial for both students and lenders.

The term 'consolidation' is a misnomer in case of student consolidation loans. In reality, none of the loans are consolidated. In case of student consolidation loans, all the existing debts of the student are paid off by the lender. Now the student is left with a new loan with a new interest rate and new repayment plan. Apart from the advantages, student consolidation loans are associated with certain pitfalls and need to tread carefully.

The most significant advantage of a student consolidation loan is the longer repayment period of up to 30 years. Interest rates are also low and the student is required to pay less towards monthly payments. However, the negative side of this arrangement is that extending the loan term will increase the amount paid towards interest.

All student loans include a grace period of six months after which the loan repayment actually begins. This grace period starts once the student has completed his/her studies and is in the job market. Interest rates on student loans tend to increase once this grace period is over. Hence, students willing to consolidate their loans should opt for the same during the grace period.

Another advantage of a student consolidation loan is that one does not bother about maintenance of bills or multiple payments. Only one single monthly payment has to be made to a single lender. According to the federal law, if all of the borrower's existing student loans have been obtained from one single lender, the borrower must make the first request to the same lender for a consolidation. If the loans are present with multiple lenders, the borrower may contact any of them or any other private lender for a loan consolidation.

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Different Types of Student Loan Consolidation

2008-04-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

There are different types of financial aid given to students who wish to pursue higher studies out of which consolidated college loans, provided by various banks and lending agencies are the most popular. These loans are different from scholarships provided by universities, governments and private organizations, to bright students, as they have to be paid back and usually with interest. There are many varieties of consolidated student loans. For example:

Student Loans Provided by Federal Agencies

These loans are provided to the student directly and no payment are required at least till they are half way through the course. A 6 month grace period is added to this at times if the student is unable to meet the half time requirement, but this is done only once. The amount of these loans is also limited to a great extent.

Student Loans Provided to the Students' Parents

These loans have much higher amount limits, but the payment installments are started immediately.

Loans Provided to Students and Their Parents by Private Organizations

These loans have higher limits. Although the interest is calculated from the time that the loan is sanctioned, no payments are required to be made until after the completion of the curriculum. These loans can be used for any kind of expenses related to the subjects being studied. For instance, tuition fees, rooming and boarding charges, books, clearance of balances which are past due, computers, scientific and laboratory equipments etc. Private loans are often used as supplements to federal student loans. This happens when the amount required for the expenses involved in higher educational curricula is not sufficiently or completely covered by the amounts provided by federal loans, scholarships, grants and other financial aid available to students pursuing higher education.

Federal Student Loans

This loan is directly provided to the college and University going students. These loans often act as supplements to the personal as well as family financial resources and other forms of financial aids including scholarships and grants. They are available at both subsidized as well as unsubsidized rates of interest, as per the financial requirement of individual students. Both of these types provide a six month grace period during which no payments are required.

PLUS Loans

The loans provided to the students' parents are also called PLUS loans (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students). The amounts authorized in these types of loans is higher than the loans provided to students directly and usually cover the complete expense involved in the course. But the payments have to start immediately and grace periods are not allowed. The parents and not their ward for who they are taking the loans are held responsible for payments. Non payment will affect their credit ratings.

The consolidated student loans given by private organizations are either school-channeled or provided to the student directly. The school channel loans are given directly to the college or university. Whereas the loans provided to the students directly, only require a proof of enrollment and the school is not involved at all.

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The best student loan consolidation rates

2008-04-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Student consolidation loans are the best options for students to pay for their college fees. However, the rates may also be a burden especially if you were not able to choose the best rate for you. Before you sign up on any plan, always remember to consider the rates involved with their plans.

Here Are 7 Tips to Consider Before You Choose a Lender

1. Student loan consolidation rates may vary depending on the borrower�s financial situation and credit It is recommended that you have a good credit score in order for you to have a lower interest rate. This is the first step in getting the best rate for you on your student consolidation loans.

2. Determine the monthly plans. The monthly plans may depend on the student situation and the lender you choose. The monthly plans may vary depending on these factors. Some lenders can offer up to 50% lower monthly plans. It is recommended that you know this information before you make a final choice on your lender.

3. The lender should have simple loan payments. The main purpose of the student loan consolidation is to simplify your payments. You should review their terms and make sure that the monthly payments will not cause more burden to you.

4. The lender should have a fixed interest rate. Most federal student loan consolidations charge interest at a fixed rate. It is advised to make a research on the lowest rates and consider if it will increase or not. There are options online where you can calculate the interest and compare it with your present student loans. This will help you assess which rates will help you most. This is also a chance for you to narrow down your choices. You may limit your choices to the lenders that can offer you lower interest rates.

5. Know if the lender will be able to extend your payment period. With student loan consolidation, you will be able to lower your monthly payment and at the same time extend your payment period up to 30 years. Before choosing a payment term, make sure that this will not burden you especially once the monthly payments have been calculated depending on the payment period.

6. Ask if there are in school student loan consolidation programs. These programs will help you lock your low rate while in school. This is because you will automatically be placed on a deferment status while in school. With this option, you will lose the 6-month grace period that is usually offered to borrowers. However, you may request for a forbearance of up to 1 year. Before deciding on this, make sure that you do your research and gather information from other borrowers online.

7. Evaluate which lender provides the lower interest rate. The student loan consolidation is the best option since it helps you save thousands of dollars. They provide the lowest rates that can do great help on your expenses. You should gather enough information on which lender offer new interest rates that are much lower. You may be stuck in a lender, which has a higher interest rate without knowing that there are lenders that now offer lower rates. It is advised that you keep yourself updated with the rates that are charged by different lenders on student loan consolidation.

GOVERNMENT STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATION

2008-04-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Are we during the behind of upon your bills? Do we have some-more than the single tyro loan? If we answered “yes” to possibly subject there have been the small superb opportunities for we to pile your debt together with the supervision tyro loan converging. Please review upon for some-more report.

When we graduated from propagandize, some-more than expected your initial pursuit was low profitable as well as your losses were tall. It is not which odd for students to shelve up bills of thirty, 40, or 50 thousand dollars or some-more in debt, only to the propagandize. Car payments, credit cards bills, as well as bland losses can pull your debt levels up by the gaseous envelope. Time to cruise of removing the small assistance. Time to cruise supervision tyro loan converging.

What is supervision tyro loan converging only? It is the loan which allows for we to take mixed tyro loans, compensate them off, as well as have monthly payments to only the single lender. Why can this be the great choice for we? Well, if we have 4 loans to 4 opposite lenders due during 4 opposite times of the month, it can appear as if we have been regularly profitable someone behind for your drill. Also, try gripping lane of all this with your chaotic report. Between work, family, friends, as well as all of life’s responsibilities wouldn’t it only be simpler to have the single elementary remuneration to have? Yes, it would.

Another great thing about the supervision tyro loan converging is which we might be means to reduce your seductiveness rate, magnify your amends time, as well as take out small additional income to compensate behind alternative creditors. Maybe we have the credit label remuneration using we 19% seductiveness. If we got the loan during the rate for half which rate, we would save income, right? Yes, we would.

Where do we go to for the supervision tyro loan converging? Search the internet! Leading companies have been promotion their services to consumers as well as they have been concerned for your commercial operation. Shop around as well as find the converging loan which is most appropriate for we. The small things to keep in mind:

1. Loan Amount. Will the association compensate off all of your tyro loans, or the apportionment of what we owe? They might wish to see compensate stubs as well as alternative proofs of income initial.

2. Loan Rate. Will loan rate be bound or will it be non-static? We might wish to close in the prolonged tenure bound rate to assure which your monthly payments sojourn fast.

3. Loan Tenure. Can we understanding with profitable behind the your supervision tyro loan converging for as prolonged as twenty years? Have been there any prepayment penalties? What if we were to default upon your loan? What afterwards?

All in all, we have options to compensate off your tyro loans which generations never had prior to. The supervision tyro loan converging might be right for we.

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The Popularity of Student Loan Consolidation

2008-04-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Student loan money owing consolidation is growing in reputation with new college as well as university graduates. Student loans have become as much a staple in college life as a toga social gathering: they are to be accepted. A small number of undergrads can pay for their higher education devoid of financial help of some kind. Dissimilar to a toga party, though, student loans last for years and must be repaid, and for many students this means student loan money owing consolidation.

There exist two types of student loans: federal plus private. Federal loans are backed in complete faith by the U.S. Government and, so, suggest lower attention rates that do not build up until subsequent to graduation of the borrower. Private loans are obtained students or parents through confidential vendors for example banks or credit unions. Interest on a private loan accrues automatically from the time the credit is obtained.

Opportune repayment is answer go getting free of debt accumulated by student loans. Nevertheless, similar to any loan, high interest rates and tardy payments lead to an unbalanced monetary future. At these points, lots of consider student loan money owing consolidation.

Manifold federal student loans can be consolidated into one loan with one attention rate. The standard (rounded to the adjacent eighth of a percent) of attention rates is applied to the fresh consolidated loan. There are no fees or charges, other than the borrower must have reached his or her grace period (six months subsequent to graduation, or moving to half-time position with your school) earlier than consolidating. Student loans may not be consolidated sooner than you start repaying or have entered your grace era.

The usual reimbursement term on federal loans is 10 years. Consolidating your loans can lower your monthly outgoings; though, you achieve a larger principle and as a result make bigger your refund time by much longer than the standard 10 years.

Key points to keep in mind:

* Carefully study your student loan options, together federal and private;
* Make sure that consolidating your student loans subsequent to your grace era will advantage you in the long run.

Student Loans Free Related Knowledge Base

2008-04-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

by Deepak Kulkarni

I am sure your quest for Bad Credit Student Loans has come to an end as you read this article. Yes, gone are those days when we have to search endlessly for Bad Credit Student Loans information or other such information like Hinson Hazelwood College Student Loan, Scholarships For Left Hand People, Direct Student Loan Rates, College Student Loan Scandal, Quebec Government Student Loans or even Great Lake Student Loan Consolidation. Even without articles such as this, with the Internet all you have to do is log on and use any of the search engines to find the Bad Credit Student Loans information you need.

Now, you may be scared of this, assuming you will just fall deeper into debt. However, this is not the reality. You will not incur any new debts; you are simply rearranging the debts you already have, into an easy to make monthly payment. Generally, this payment is much lower than the ones you would have had, without consolidation.

Sometimes the school you attend may recommend the right debt consolidation companies for you to approach for your student debt consolidation loan. However, you can have your federal school loan consolidated only if you have stopped attending school, have not missed any payments and your loan is of a sum of at least $10,000. If your federal school loan does not meet one of these requirements, then you can’t opt for student loan debt consolidation.

Are you going to work? This is a critical factor in deciding how much you’ll need and working will allow you to take out much less in student loans decreasing your debt when you are finished. Additionally, for undergraduates, unless you take out private loans, student loan funding is limited and may not always cover all your expenses depending on the college you decide to go to. You might also qualify for work-study, which also gives you valuable work experience. Unless you’re planning on only going to school part-time, I don’t suggest working for a full-time job. Your main goal in going to college is to get a good education and working for a full-time job detracts from this opportunity.

SIDEBAR– If you have the patience to go through the remainder of this article related to Student Loans With Bad Credit you will certainly learn one or two things that will prove very helpful to you. Keep right on reading and be well informed about Student Loans With Bad Credit and other related Scholarships For Learning Disabled, Student Loan With Bad Credit And No Cosigner, Private Loans For Students With Bad Credit, Good Credit Cards For College Students, Us Department Of Education Federal Student Loans and Federal Student Loan Eligibility information.

It is important that even if you are applying for student loan consolidation online, you continue to make your payments in a timely manner, to avoid penalties and issues. If you do not want to apply online for your student loan consolidation, you still have the trusty telephone or postal service.

When it comes to student loans, there are two basic types, private and federal. Private loans are given to students, but are generally based upon your credit report and credit score. These types of student loans, are not regulated or issued by the government, therefore, they tend to carry higher rates of interest. The government issues federal student loans. A lender will lend you the money, with the promise from the federal government that it will be paid back. These types of student loans typically carry much lower rates of interest, when compared to private loans.

If as related to Bad Credit Student Loans as this article is, and it still doesn’t answer all your needs, then don’t forget that you can conduct more search on any of the major search engines like Google.com to get more helpful Bad Credit Student Loans information.

And when you are interested to consolidate student loans, you should know that even of your student loans are already in repayment, to consolidate student loans is still allowed and beneficial. It is for the reason that when you consolidate student loans at this time, you already fix the interest rate on your government student loans while the rates are still originally low.

A lot of well-meaning people searching for Bad Credit Student Loans also searched online for Government Plus Loans, Left Handed Scholarships, and even Canadian Government Student Jobs.

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Student Loan Consolidation Service (USA)

2008-04-22T17:01:00.001-07:00

There are several ways of going about getting yourself a student loan consolidation. If you are serious about it, you would be best off going with a professional lender that specializes in these types of student consolidation loans. They can quickly figure out your situation and come up with the absolutely best consolidation loan that will work perfectly for you and your financial situation.

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As with any product or service, it is best to seek out the knowledge from multiple lenders in order to find the best fit for you. It will help you in the long run in many more ways then one and will allow you to save yourself from falling into the trap of defaulting your loans and ending up with a poor credit mark on your credit profile. Our debt counselors are standing by to help you get out of debt by working with your creditors to lower your monthly payments and reduce or eliminate your interest and penalties.

Government Student Loans Consolidation Related Hint

2008-04-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

As you search for Student Loans Consolidation Service related information or other information about FAFSA Codes, Government Loans For College Students, No Credit Check Student College Loan, Student Loans For Bad Credit And No Co Signer, Government Slogans or Current Student Loan Consolidation, take your time to view the below article. It will provide you with a really refreshing insight into the Student Loans Consolidation Service information that you need. After going through it you will also be better informed about information in some way related to Student Loans Consolidation Service, such as Alberta Student Loans, ACS Student Loan Services, Federal Student Loan Balance, Direct Student Loan Programs, College Credit Card Student Credit Cards For Bad Credit or even Private Student Loan Consolidation.

Furthermore, if the monthly payments are just too high, student loan consolidation experts can still help you out. Typically, with consolidation you can stretch the repayment time from ten years to up to thirty years, which means your payments would be less. Actually, with the help of student loan consolidation experts, your new payments each month could be up to 54% less, than without consolidation. What a saving!

The federal loan is given by the government, while the private student loan is given by the private lending institutions. As these student loans have a higher interest rate, it is rather difficult to turn to student loan debt consolidation with these types of loans if you fall in debt.

File a Free Application for Financial Student Aid. Filing the FAFSA should not be put off. While the deadline for student loans isn’t terribly strict, most schools have a February 15th deadline to qualify for grants and other types of non-loan aid such as work-study, which may significantly decrease the amount of debt you owe when you’re finished with school. I suggest getting an application for the next year, as soon as they become available. This is usually right around the end of the year. Fill it out right after you get your tax documents, usually around the end of January.

KEEP READING — That’s right. Keep reading and you will find other Student Loans Consolidations Service related information that will not only excite you but also educate you about Student Loans Consolidation Service in general and even other Federal Student Aides, Student Loan Repayment Programs, Private Educational Loan Consolidation, Student Loans For Students With Bad Credit And No Cosigner, Federal Employee Student Loan Repayment and Consolidate Defaulted Student Loans information.

Alternative methods of borrowing money, student loans are far easier and less hassles. Many students have found that credit cards create a lifetime of trouble down the road; therefore, they simply are not suitable for charging food, gas, textbooks, or any other living expenses. Not to mention, just a bad way of managing money in general. With student loans, you will have the ability to live in a comfortable manner while attending college, with much lower rates of interest than those credit cards will charge.

As detailed as this article is, don’t forget that you can find more information about Government Student Loans Consolidation or any such information from any of the search engines out there such as MSN.com. Commit yourself to finding specific information therein about Government Student Loans Consolidation, and you will.

A student loan debt consolidation plan is often the most commonly used and the most effective way to pay off your various student loans. However, if your loan was funded by the government, many times you can pay it off through their student loan forgiveness program. This works by agreeing to do a viable service for the community during a specific period of time. You might be called on to do service as a primary and secondary school teacher which serves low income children, or you can serve in the armed forces or law enforcement for a specific period of time. When you complete your community service work then some or entire loan can be forgiven.

Many people looking for information about Government Student Loans Consolidation also looked online for Car Loans For College Students, Student Loan Consolidation Scam, and even Federal Student Loan Applications.

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Student loan servicing center

2007-11-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

After you get a loan for your studies you have to stay in direct contact with a student loan servicing centre. A student loan servicing centre deals with the whole processing of your loan and also with the serviced once you have qualified for the loan. When you apply for a loan you have to keep checking for your status. If you won't chase it then it is very likely that you'll never get a loan since there are thousands of other students trying to get student loans. With the help of a student loan servicing centre you can access your loan status by sitting home. There are a number of different loan servicing centers across United States. The most famous one is NSLSS (national student loan service center).

With the help of a student loan servicing center you can also make you payments or check what will you end up paying? That's true. With the help of a loan repayment calculator you can find out the interest that you'll have to pay on the whole amount and the likely monthly payments. It is very simple to use. You just have to enter the loan amount and interest rate and it will calculate for you the amount of monthly payments as well as the interest that you'll pay for the whole amount of loan. Apart from a loan repayment calculator many student loan servicing centers offer at their sites a unique tool called "loan consolidation calculator". A loan consolidation calculator gives you the figures of monthly payments and your interest rate if you consolidate you first and second loans.

Other notable student loan servicing centers include SLSC situated in New York. It is currently dealing with over 55 universities. A servicing center can also let you change your payment plan online or make debt consolidation easily online. It saves your precious time and saves you the trouble of going all the way to an office of a loan servicing center, waiting in a long que for your turn and then filing for case. You can do this all by sitting at one place and without much physical improvement. A loan servicing center is of a great help to an individual (especially students who can save their time to invest in studies). Every individual must be clear about it and must utilize the facilities provided by a student loan servicing center.

New revenue stream for student loan consolidation companies

2007-11-25T06:28:00.000-08:00

Great News!! Student Financial Advisors is now accepting affiliates for partnerships on offering help with defaulted student loans. As part of our on going effort to provide students with the best customer service in the industry we can now offer student loan consolidation companies a profitable avenue to help students who have defaulted on their student loans.

Student Financial Advisors as several options to refinance defaulted student loans.
Once a student loan goes into "default" status the full balance of the loan becomes due immediately. It also means that other options for delaying payment, including student loan deferment and forbearance, can no longer be used. Most importantly student loan consolidation companies, up until now, had no options to help the student with defaulted student loans. This is a new revenue stream for student loan consolidation companies. Best of all after the nine month rehabilitation process the referring student loan consolation company can consolidate those students’ federal student loans.

Eventually, unpaid defaulted student loans can have long-term consequences beyond just the loan directly. For example, the students' credit report will take a hit. Once the loan has been forwarded for collection the student’s wages can be garnished and their federal income tax refunds can be withheld. You also lose your eligibility for other types of federal loans including student loan consolidation. Given the size of most student loans, it's usually impossible to repay a defaulted student loan in the single payment that loan collectors may request. There are mechanisms for repaying defaulted student loans and for both regaining your eligibility for more student loans and improving their credit score.

At Student Financial Advisors we offer assistance to everyday people, looking for financial relief from their student loan debt, federal and private. Daily, we provide help to dozens of people who want to avoid administrative wage garnishments and tax offsets. We help people establish affordable payments and reduce penalties and fees. We assist with student loan consolidation as well as work within a competitive system in which lenders compete for your student loans. This competitive environment yields the best interest rate for the student.

If your company is looking for a way to help students get out of default and get paid for it please contact us at www.studentfinancialadvisors.com

Tuscson Man Faces Criminal Charges In Fraudulent Student Loan Scheme

2007-11-20T04:30:00.000-08:00

Federal investigation shows he netted over $624,000

TUCSON, Ariz. – LAWFUEL - The Legal Newswire - Stephen Gallagher, 27, of Tucson, was arrested on November 9, 2007, and made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on November 13, 2007 for allegedly engaging in a fraudulent scheme to obtain student loan funds which netted him over $624,000. On November 15, 2007, a U.S. Magistrate Judge set a $5,000 cash or corporate surety bond for his release which was posted later that day.

The criminal complaint, filed on November 8, 2007, alleges that from 2003 to 2007, Gallagher submitted over 200 student loan applications via the Internet to various financial institutions. The majority of these loan applications originated from one of eight different America On-Line (AOL) email accounts registered in the name of Stephen Gallagher. He submitted loan applications in his own name as well as in the names of unsuspecting individuals, later adding these other individuals to his bank account so he could deposit the student loan checks which were made payable in the name of the borrower. Supporting documentation, such as proof of employment and residence verification, was submitted to each financial intuition via FAX machine. Much of this documentation was determined to be fraudulent.

To date, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified approximately 42 fraudulent student loans totaling $624,287.32 to be associated with Gallagher. Applications were submitted for attendance at Stanford University, George Washington University, University of Arizona, and Scottsdale Culinary Institute. None of the individuals listed as the borrower on the student loan applications ever attended these institutions. The financial institutions that funded the student loans include: First Marblehead, Wells Fargo, Key Bank, Education Finance Partners, Suntrust, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Chela Funding, Richland Bank, and Sallie Mae. In total, Gallagher applied for over $10 million in student loan funds from these financial institutions.

A conviction for bank fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, a $1 million fine, or both. A criminal complaint is simply the method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Department of Education. The prosecution is being handled by Eric Markovich, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

Reformed education act targets student fees, loans, downloading

2007-11-20T04:05:00.001-08:00

The House of Representatives proposed changes and additions to the Higher Education Act last Friday that will affect students in many areas, including illegal downloading, student fees, accreditation practices and student loans.

The Higher Education Act is due for renewal and any legislation enacted will determine higher education policy for the next five years. The bill was originally created in 1965 to strengthen educational resources available to colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance to students.

The Senate passed its version of the bill in July. The House proposed its initial version of the bill last week, which was marked up in the Education Committee on Wednesday.

A change that will directly impact students is the crackdown on illegal downloading within the proposed legislation. It requires institutions to educate their students on policies regarding copyright infringement on campus networks. It also requires that colleges eligible for federal financial aid under Title IV, a section of the Higher Education Act that defines all federal loans available to students, to develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading,

“About 44 percent of domestic piracy losses nationwide, over $500 million, are due to college students,” said Kori Bernard, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America, which supports the legislation.

“We are requesting minimally invasive efforts to reduce piracy on college campuses,” Bernard added.

Educause, a nonprofit organization concerned with proper technology use in higher education, called the second portion of the legislation “unacceptable,” according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“These provisions of the bill are misdirected at higher education,” said Steven Worona, Educause director of policy and networking programs.

Most infringement by college students occurs on commercial networks that are not associated with their college. Less than 4 percent of infringers are using college campus networks and therefore account for no more than 9 percent of the losses. The statistic that attributes 44 percent of piracy to college campuses is both misleading and false, Worona said.

“Campuses are already attacking this problem as aggressively as possible. The source of the problem should be targeted and that’s not higher education,” Worona said.

In their separate proposals, both the Senate and the House agreed on modifications to the act, including allowing the Secretary of Education to establish a Higher Education Price Index in order to identify colleges whose tuition and fees are unusually high and place them on a watch list.

The House went beyond the Senate, mandating that colleges on the watch list submit a report explaining the reasons for their unusually high fees, and outlining steps that will be taken to prevent future increases in fees, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

To create further incentives to prevent fee increases, the House also proposed offering additional grant money to colleges that restrained their tuition growth, said Rachel Racusen, spokeswoman for Representative George Miller of California, who is chairman of the House Education and Labor committee. States would also be punished for cutting their higher education budgets.

“States that fail to meet the mandated standards would risk losing these funds,” Racusen said. States faced with fiscal difficulties would be eligible for a waiver from the Secretary of Education.

“To expand college access to millions of students and families and to ensure that our higher education system operates in the best interest of helping students attend and pay for college is a top priority of Miller’s office,” Racusen said.

Congress is also addressing is the 90-10 rule, which requires career colleges, which provide vocational educations, to receive at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than federal student aid in order to be eligible for the financial aid benefits of Title IV.

“A minority of these schools were diploma mills that took advantage of students and were not legitimate institutions,” said Harris N. Miller, chairman of the Career College Association.

Currently, these institutions are subject to stringent accreditation requirements. At the same time, their student population has grown from about 2 percent of higher education students in 1995, to about 10 percent today, Miller said.

The new legislation modifies the act to broaden the sources that can comprise the 10 percent of non-governmental funding to include scholarships and existing short-term educational programs.

Miller said he is optimistic that the resulting bill will remove unnecessary restrictions.

“Schools are being forced to artificially raise tuition to meet the 10 percent standard, creating a situation where tuition is being raised only to meet bureaucratic requirements,” Miller said.

In terms of accreditation, both the Senate and the House aim to hold colleges more responsible for evidence of student achievement and to make accreditation practices more transparent, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Almost 40 percent of students that receive degrees from traditional school have transferred from one college to another, but many schools are ripping off their students by forcing them to take the same classes twice,” Miller said.

Colleges have adopted voluntary policies stating that the source of accreditation should not be the sole basis for an applicant’s rejection, but blatant violations of these self-imposed rules are frequent, Miller said.

The bill requires that accreditation practices be made publicly available.

“This is a partial victory, and a major step forward,” Miller said.

The proposed legislation also attempts to reduce student expenditures by revamping student loan practices.The Senate and the House are aiming to reduce conflicts of interest within the student loan industry between lenders and colleges by outlawing questionable practices and increasing transparency, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Colleges that recommend preferred lenders must include at least three unaffiliated providers for government-backed loans and two other providers for private lenders. In addition, annual reports justifying choices and criteria for selections must be submitted to the Secretary of Education.

Revenue-sharing between colleges and lenders, and “co-branding,” or allowing lenders to use a college’s mascot in marketing materials, will be banned under the new legislation.

A top priority of Rep. George Miller’s office is to make information available to students and their families to help them understand the financial opportunities available to them, spokeswoman Racusen said.

Who Should Be Ashamed?

2007-11-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

Even as they scramble for positions on some lists ("best colleges,” “top grant recipients” and so forth) colleges have lots of lists they want to stay off of: AAUP censure, NCAA probation, and others.
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Related stories

* The Pendulum Swings on Accreditation, Nov. 19
* Cost of College a Bipartisan Concern, Nov. 12
* Looking Under the Hood of Public Higher Ed, Nov. 2
* Rate of Tuition Increases Is Up, Oct. 23
* Price Controls or Transparency?, June 15

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The idea that colleges would take steps to avoid being on bad lists is behind a measure drawing bipartisan support in Congress — and infuriating many college officials. A measure in the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act would create “watch lists” of institutions with tuition increases above the average for their sector. The hope is that colleges may moderate increases to avoid ending up on the list — or be exposed for faulty management if they do. Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, a California Republican who has been pushing the idea for some time, issued a press release that said the watch lists will “shine a spotlight on excessive tuition increases.”

The legislation comes at a time that many in Congress are also raising questions about large college endowments and asking if the wealthiest colleges couldn’t somehow spend more of their endowment or other funds and minimize tuition increases. But a review of existing data suggests that the colleges that would end up on the watch list aren’t terribly wealthy. Rather, they seem to fall into two groups: public institutions in states where appropriations are tight, and private colleges whose operating budgets are tuition driven because endowments are small.

In fact, while many experts believe that colleges — and especially the wealthiest ones — can do more to control their own costs and, in turn, what they charge to students, they point to lots of problems with the dividing lines this bill would draw.

Take the colleges with mega-endowments — the places some think could afford to be free. Of the wealthiest 10 private universities (a club you need about $5 billion to join), not a single one of them would end up on the watch list. The average tuition and fee increase for private, four-year colleges this year was 6.3 percent and the top 10 in endowment wealth didn’t have a tuition rate that hit even 6 percent (five were in the mid-5 percents, and the rest were lower still).

Among the institutions that would certainly not need to worry about ending up on the watch list is Princeton University, which this year froze tuition (although it had a healthy increase in room and board charges, which don’t count for getting an institution on the watch list).

But if Princeton has nothing to worry about it with regard to the watch list, Saint Peter’s College, in Jersey City, does. Its tuition increase this year is about 6 percent, just below average, and some years the college is above average. So in theory, this is the kind of institution that might be motivated by a watch list and want to stay off of it.

But Eugene J. Cornacchia, the president, says flat out that the watch list would by necessity have no impact on decision making — although it could hurt the college. Like many of the private colleges that would end up on the list, Saint Peter’s is tuition driven. About 90 percent of its budget comes from tuition. So the idea that the college could decide to go down a bit to avoid being on some federal list just isn’t realistic, Cornacchia said.

“Our 6 percent tuition increase does not give us any latitude,” he said. “It was the minimum amount needed to accomplish what we need to do. It’s not like we could do away with even.1 percent of it,” he said. Cut the budget, “and it would mean layoffs or reductions to students.”

Comparing Princeton and Saint Peter’s illustrates the latter’s president’s frustration. As far as the legislation is concerned, they are in the same category.

But by endowment, Princeton had $13 billion (a year ago) while Saint Peter’s has $32 million. Full professors at Princeton earn more than twice what those at Saint Peter’s are paid. About 7 percent of Princeton students are eligible for Pell Grants (a good proxy for low-income students) while about 40 percent of Saint Peter’s students are. In fact, only 1 percent of Saint Peter’s students don’t receive aid of some form from the college. (And even with the fact that Saint Peter’s had an increase this year, its tuition and fees total of just over $24,000 is much less than Princeton’s total of $33,000.)

Cornacchia stressed that he doesn’t begrudge Princeton its success and wishes it well at achieving its mission. But that Princeton’s ability to skip a tuition increase could set up Saint Peter’s for looking bad by comparison in some federal formula is a flaw, he said.

“That’s the problem with these kinds of lists that come out. I think of the No Child Left Behind disaster, and we’re again developing all sorts of lists based on data which may or may not be related to anything based on education, and it stigmatizes institutions,” Cornacchia said.

The gap between Princeton and Jersey City isn’t by any means unique. Go to other states known for wealthy private colleges and the situation is the same — the famous institutions with large endowments will not turn up on the list. In Massachusetts, there is no danger of Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith or Williams ending up on the watch list. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are safe, too. The colleges close to the average or above it (those that would make the list) are the colleges whose endowments are small by comparison and in many cases they are colleges that educate many first generation students — places like Pine Manor and Emmanuel Colleges or Suffolk University.

Richard Doherty, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, said that his state shows the flaws in basing a watch list on percentages. “The smaller schools will get hurt,” he said, because they are more dependent on tuition, and more vulnerable to sudden increases in expenses, such as energy costs. It is the colleges with the smaller endowments (which are more likely to end up on the watch list) that have the least flexibility, Doherty said.

“The notion that there are efficiencies that colleges are not trying to pursue currently is just a fallacy,” he said.

Some colleges with much larger endowments say that there are other flaws in the percentage approach. Grinnell College, with a billion-plus endowment that tops all other liberal arts colleges, added 15 percent last year to the regular tuition increase and imposed the higher expense on this year’s freshmen only (although it will carry on as more classes enroll). The extra funds are being used to forgive more student debt, to change financial aid formulas that students said previously didn’t cover the real costs of books and other expenses, to add new scholarships and so forth.

The question for the college as students arrived in the fall was whether the changes — and the higher sticker price — would scare off low-income students. Russell K. Osgood, Grinnell’s president, said that the striking thing was that the class didn’t change at all — more than 85 percent qualifying for some kind of aid, just as in previous years. To Osgood this suggests that students and parents look beyond sticker price and realize what a small share of students and families pay full price and the percentage increase associated with it.

“What I conclude from the whole thing is that parents and students are quite sophisticated about the net cost of a college,” he said. The idea that Congress is somehow saving students from colleges with high percentage increases doesn’t make sense when students realize they might be getting something valuable as a result, he added. “All I would say is that I think Congress should take into account that there are all different sorts and kinds of colleges and to identify a watch list based on a single criterion strikes me as unwise or unjustified.”

The Picture for Public Colleges

If the key factor private college leaders predict would keep a college off the watch list is wealth, the key factor public college leaders predict is the wealth of a state in a given year. If the watch list existed this year, there would be plenty of Michigan public colleges on it — with a collapsing state budget and significant cuts, colleges have imposed tuition increases, some of them double digit.

Michigan State University, which took pride a few years back in multiple years of minimal tuition increases, is up nearly 10 percent for state residents.

Terry Denbow, vice president of university relations at Michigan State, noted that trustees at Michigan State are elected in statewide votes and decide on tuition in open meetings. “The transparency and accountability of pure democracy, quite literally, are alive each time tuition is set.”

Denbow said that the university’s record makes clear that when state appropriations are available, tuition increases are minimal. And when tuition increases are needed, the university has increased financial aid budgets by an average of 4.5 percentage points above the tuition increase.

Putting Michigan State (and most of the rest of public higher education in the state) on a watch list wouldn’t really accomplish much, he said. “This would impose an unnecessary burden, administratively and otherwise, built upon a flawed process and homogeneous scorecard for declaring winners and losers,” he said.

Similarly, California State University could be headed toward a tuition increase in the 10 percent magnitude — the kind of percentage that might land an institution on the watch list.

Patrick Lenz, assistant vice chancellor of the system, said that in recent years, Cal State has had increases in the 10 percent range and years of no increases at all. In the latter, the state finds itself taking in more money than projected and “buys out” any tuition increase that would be needed. In years like this one, when reports of the depths of California’s deficit continue to increase, the opposite happens, he said.

“I’m really not sure the point of this watch list,” he said.

California State’s tuition and fees for a year (many Californians who believe in the state’s no-tuition philosophy insist on calling the total entirely fees, but it is similar to tuition and fees elsewhere) are well under $4,000 for a year (a figure that is well under the $6,185 average for public four-year institutions). Lenz said that it is legitimate to compare universities on costs, and that Cal State maintains a list of 15 institutions it looks at for comparison purposes — a group that includes University of Nevada at Reno, Arizona State University, Georgia State University and George Mason University. Cal State costs $500 less than anyone else in the group, Lenz said.

Part of the concern is that colleges wouldn’t just get branded was institutions that need to be watched, but would have to spend more money as a result. Each institution would have to create a “quality efficiency task force” that would have to analyze the ways in which the institution is operating “more expensively to produce a similar result” as its peers. Institutions whose percentage increases would place them on the list would be exempt if they are in the bottom quartile for their sector or if their dollar increases don’t top $500 over three years, an exemption expected to help many community colleges, where the average increase in actual dollars this year was just $95.

Sandy Baum, a Skidmore College economist and senior policy analyst at the College Board, said that there are many types of colleges that would not change behavior because of the watch list. The wealthiest colleges — those seen by some as contributing to an “arms race” in which new programs and fancier facilities multiply — will be able to continue that arms race without getting on the list, she said. And colleges without much money (either private institutions or publics in tight budget cycles) have real constraints on their prices.

There may, however, be a group of private colleges that are in between — not totally tuition dependent, but not with billion-dollar endowments either. Some of those institutions, she said, might be motivated to try to carve a bit out of tuition increases to stay below average on price. But Baum said it was hard to predict.

Ronald G. Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell University Higher Education Research Institute and editor of What’s Happening to Public Higher Education (Praeger, 2006), said the key question for colleges would be whether being on the watch list had an impact on the behavior of potential students. For colleges that have desirable qualities, he doubts that it will.

“If you the student are trying to make a decision to go to X vs.Y, and X is a shamed institution on the list and Y is not, is that going to affect your decision at all, if X promises you more in terms of educational opportunities and potential for earnings and graduate school education. In a way, I don’t think it’s any different from the way continuing raising high tuitions have not kept the number of applications to selective institutions from going up,” Ehrenberg said.

The potential benefit of the watch list may be rhetorical, he added. “If this is just a way of calling attention to higher education about trying to be efficient and hold down costs, maybe it will serve some useful function,” he said.

Just about everybody interviewed for this article — including several who didn’t want to be quoted for fear of attracting attention to their institutions’ rates — said that there are colleges, public and private, charging too much and deserving of more scrutiny. The problem, they said, was that the proposal advancing in Congress appears likely to point fingers in the wrong direction.

Baum said that the proposal reflected the wide consensus that the problem is real. “I’m sympathetic to the idea we have to do something to slow this down,” she said. “I don’t know that anybody has a good answer to what the best approach is.”

— Scott Jaschik

Not too late for spring semester

2007-11-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

Last month we launched our "Ask the Expert" tool — and since then, your questions have been steadily rolling in. At first I was surprised by the number of inquiries we received this way. I thought the Student LoanDown community would use the comments section to ask questions — but I guess you take that section literally and use it for actual comments, not questions!

Nonetheless, I'm glad you're finding "Ask the Expert" useful. It's certainly useful for us bloggers because we learn exactly what kind of information you'd like more of — and then we can share it with the rest of our community.

So here's a question we received from a concerned parent about financial aid timing (certainly appropriate as spring semester is just a few months away):

My daughter is a freshman. We did not take out any loans for the first, fall, semester, but would like to take out one for the spring semester. Is it possible to get a Stafford or Perkins loan for the spring semester, or have we missed this cycle and have to wait for the fall of 2008?

And here's my response:

No, you haven't missed the cycle. (Whew!) If you haven't already completed the FAFSA Click here to learn about third-party website links (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), that's your first step. The 2007 FAFSA covers the 2007-2008 academic year through June 30, 2008, and will determine your daughter's eligibility for financial aid.

I'd suggest that you check with the financial aid office at your daughter's school. Low-interest Federal Perkins Loans Click here to learn about third-party website links are based on financial need and are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so those may not be available. But low-interest Federal Stafford Loans have both need-based and non-need-based components (subsidized and unsubsidized loans), and as long as your daughter is attending an eligible school at least half-time, this should still be an option for her.

One last thing: As a parent, if you're interested in borrowing to help your daughter pay for school, check out the Federal PLUS Loan for parents. It's also not based on financial need but does require a minimal credit check.

Warning on Tuition, Shift on Accreditation

2007-11-20T03:25:00.000-08:00

If the Higher Education Act bill that House Democrats introduced late last week did not persuade college leaders that the issue of college prices is and will remain front and center on the federal policy agenda, the House education committee’s consideration of the legislation Wednesday should once and for all.

Lawmakers on the Education and Labor Committee did not complete their work on the measure (H.R. 4137) Wednesday, though they did pass several amendments and reject or withdraw numerous others (detailed below). But their hours of mostly bipartisan discussion about the legislation included warnings from members of both political parties that colleges will face continuing scrutiny of their spending and tuition prices and could face more federal intrusion into their operations — beyond the creation of federal “watch lists” that the bill in question would create — if they don’t get the problem under control.

Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) proposed an amendment that would have required colleges that appear on the “watch lists” to put in place procedures to cut their costs and slash their federal student aid funds by 10 percent a year if they do not meet certain benchmarks. Castle said he believed the committee’s bill would do “very good things” on the cost issue, but suggested that “more may need to be done.”

Castle ultimately withdrew his amendment, as aides said he had been planning to do all along. But the committee’s chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), said he found Castle’s amendment to be “very tempting,” and acknowledged the Republican lawmaker’s point that “we haven’t done everything potentially available” to Congress to crack down on rising college costs.

Miller then issued a warning directly to college officials: “I hope the [higher education] community is listening closely on this,” he said, adding that the committee’s work on this bill “is not the end of the story.”

The issue of college prices and the need for colleges to rein them was raised on and off throughout the hours of debate, offering a rare bit of cohesion to a discussion that was, like the sprawling 747-page bill under consideration, all over the place. (An accounting of what was contained in the original bill can be found here.)

Perhaps the most significant development, which occurred late Wednesday evening after the hearing room had partially cleared out, involved the contentious topic of how student learning outcomes should be assessed in the accreditation process. The bill proposed by committee Democrats last week would give colleges and universities themselves the authority to define how to measure “success with respect to student achievement in relation to the institution’s mission.” That is in contrast to the Education Department’s push during last winter’s negotiated rule making session on accreditation to put that authority much more in the hands of the accrediting agencies. The original language in the House bill largely mirrored that in the Higher Education Act bill passed by the Senate this summer.

Wednesday evening, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) — acting at the urging of regional and national accreditors, who reportedly felt that the bill’s language threatened to undermine their authority — introduced an amendment to strip the language that empowered each college to define student learning for itself. (Language in the Higher Education Act as it stands now is noncommittal about who has that authority.) With virtually no discussion, and a promise to bring forward replacement language in the coming days, Miller and the committee’s other leaders adopted Andrews’s amendment without dissent.

College leaders, who had fought the Education Department’s push, said they were blindsided by the Andrews amendment. They were furious, saying the shift would open the door to federal officials renewing their effort to compel to force colleges to measure and report more quantitative data about their success in educating students. The turnabout revealed anew a rift between accreditors and college leaders that surfaced during the accreditation negotiations.

“I’m shocked at the stupidity of the accreditors in opening up an issue that had been settled in a positive way,” said Becky Timmons, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education. Matt Owens, assistant director of federal relations at the Association of American Universities, said the change — should it stand — could be a deal breaker. “Removal of the provision seriously jeopardizes our ability to support the bill,” Owens said.

The panel considered several other amendments related to accreditation as well. It adopted one amendment that would require accrediting agencies to “respect” the missions of religiously affiliated institutions, which several civil rights groups opposed because they said it would make it easier for such institutions to discriminate on the basis of race or sexual orientation. It also embraced a proposal, offered by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), that would allow the minority party in Congress to appoint some of the new members of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, the panel that reviews accreditors and that the Higher Education Act renewal bill would reconfigure. (Currently the education secretary appoints all 15 members; the original House bill would give the Senate, the House and the Education Department five appointees each, while Hoekstra’s measure would give the Senate and House six each, with three appointed by each party.)

Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wisc.) withdrew an amendment that would have allowed colleges, once they had been accredited by a federally recognized agency, to opt out of the re-accreditation process by submitting a slew of information about its performance and fiscal and other health to the federal government. (The Petri amendment was strikingly similar to proposals that have been made by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, whose president, Anne D. Neal, happens to be married to the Congressman and a member of the Education Department’s accreditation advisory committee.) Another withdrawn amendment related to accreditation would have ended a requirement that accrediting agencies get approval from the U.S. Education Department when they seek to begin reviewing distance learning institutions.

In other areas, the House panel adopted amendments that would:

* Bar the Education Department from developing or implementing a federal “unit records” database, which would track information about students from elementary and secondary school through their entry into the work force. Many states have such systems, but private colleges (and many Republican lawmakers) have opposed the development of a national system, mostly on privacy grounds.
* Create a new assistant secretary position in the U.S. Education Department to oversee international education.
* Ease in several ways the requirements of a federal law that forces for-profit colleges to garner at least 10 percent of their revenues from sources other than the federal student aid programs. One change would allow the institutions to count institutional scholarships, or tuition discounts, in the 10 percent total; another would soften the potential penalties violators can face.
* Change how the Education Department calculates the “cohort” default rate for student loans.

Numerous other amendments were rejected or withdrawn by their authors. Some of those amendments would have:

* Required colleges that participate in the federal direct student loan program to process loans for students through banks or other lenders in the guaranteed loan program.
* Expressed the sense of Congress that students should not have their free speech rights infringed by faculty members or fellow students — a watered-down version, essentially, of David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights.

The House panel will reconvene this morning to vote on a handful of amendments and approval of the overall bill.

— Doug Lederman
The original story and user comments can be viewed online at http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/15/hea.

Determining EFC and Cost of Attendance

2007-11-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

What is Cost of Attendance?

Your college or university will generally publish on its Web site or in its financial aid office the college's cost of attendance. This is an estimate of how much money will be required to attend school for one year at that college, including all reasonable expenses. Most people, when budgeting for college, look at the tuition and assume that tuition is more or less the "price tag" for that school, when the reality is that tuition may be as little as 50% of the overall budget. Here are some sample costs of attendance from a survey done by TheStreet.com:

* Prestige school (Ivy League or near-Ivy League):
o Tuition, $31,644;
o Room/board, $9,873;
o Books & supplies, $1,419;
o Plus similar costs for personal expenses and transportation.
o Total cost: an estimated $44,592 per year.
* Private four year university/school:
o Tuition, $16,086;
o Room/board, $6,540;
o Books & supplies, $920;
o Plus costs for personal expenses and transportation.
o Total cost: an estimated $26,226 per year.
* State university/Public school:
o Tuition, $8,670;
o Room/board $7,176;
o Books/supplies $950;
o Plus expenses and transportation.
o Total cost: an estimated $18,452 per year.

Incidentally, the fact that state and public universities are broken out into a separate category is an indication of price range, not quality. Some public universities are as well regarded or even more prestigious than their private university counterparts.
How does Cost of Attendance influence financial aid?

A school's financial aid office generally determines the programs and amounts of aid an applicant receives. This involves determining the cost of attending the college, calculating a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and then awarding aid to meet the difference between the two - the calculated financial need.
What is the EFC?

The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is the amount a family can be expected to contribute toward a student’s college costs. Financial aid administrators determine an applicant’s need for federal student aid from the U.S. Department of Education and other non-federal sources of assistance by subtracting the EFC from the student’s cost of attendance (COA).

The EFC formula is used to determine the EFC and ultimately determine the need for assistance from the following types of federal student financial assistance: Federal Pell Grants, subsidized Stafford Loans (though the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan [DL] Program or through the Federal Family Education Loan Program [FFEL]), and assistance from the “campus-based” programs—Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Federal Perkins Loans, and Federal Work-Study (FWS).

The methodology for determining the EFC is found in Part F of Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

Financial aid administrators use the information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), including the EFC, to develop a financial aid package. This package specifies the types and amounts of assistance, including non-federal aid, a student will receive to cover his or her education-related expenses up to COA. However, because funds are limited, the amount awarded to a student may fall short of the amount of aid for which the student is eligible
What is the source of data used in EFC calculations?

All data used to calculate a student’s EFC come from the information the student provides on the FAFSA. A student may submit a FAFSA (1) through the Internet by using FAFSA on the Web, (2) by filing an application electronically through a school, or (3) by mailing a paper FAFSA to the Central Processing System (CPS).

Students who applied for federal student aid in the previous award year may be eligible to reapply by filing a Renewal FAFSA over the Internet or by submitting a paper renewal application. Applying for federal aid is free. However, to be considered for non-federal aid (such as institutional aid), a student may have to fill out additional forms and pay a processing fee.

We encourage applicants to complete the appropriate electronic version of the FAFSA rather than a paper FAFSA because the electronic versions contain additional instructions and help features, have built-in edits that reduce applicant error, and allow the Department to send application results to students and schools quicker.
What happens if awarded aid falls short of Cost of Attendance?

Then it's student loan time - alternative student loans, to be specific. Alternative private student loans bridge the gap between awarded aid and Cost of Attendance. For example, let's look at the Prestige School's Cost of Attendance again and some financial aid. Let's say that you are awarded the maximum amount of federal aid for Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, and Stafford Loans as a freshman. That means:

* Perkins Loan - maximum of $4,000
* Stafford Loan - maximum of $6,625 ($2,625 subsidized)
* FSEOG - maximum of $4,000
* Pell Grant - maximum of $4,050

That puts your federal financial aid package at $18,675. Let's also assume that you receive $2,000 in scholarships and an additional $5,000 in state and institutional financial aid. That puts your aid package at $25,675, which will almost cover tuition. You'll still have about $2,955 in tuition to cover, plus the remaining expenses, which totals $20,680.

Where can you get $20,680? From an alternative private student loan like the Act Private Student Loan from the Student Loan Network. It can give you up to $40,000 per academic year, which will finish off the costs of attending more expensive schools.

Student Loan Consolidation Information - Differences Between Graduate & Undergraduate Financial Aid

2007-11-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

At the time of researching your student loan consolidation information options you need to investigate the similarities and differences of graduate and undergraduate financial aid, as the costs of education today is ten times what it was less than 40 years ago and with the differences becoming even more stark when considering undergraduate versus graduate programs, as luck would have it there are resources now available to both types of student to assist them to pay for college expenses.

Undergraduate student loan consolidation information.

Undergraduates typically rely on a difficult mix of scholarships, grants and loans, these loans can sometimes be taken out by the undergraduates alone or by his or her parents alone and often a mixture of the two when the parent(s) start to become a co-borrower or co-signer, the basic schemes for students remain the unsubsidized and subsidized Stafford Loans, subsidized loans are more appealing, since the government pays the interest whilst the student is in school, however they're need-based, unsubsidized loans are not need-based making them available to a much larger range of students.

Graduate student loan consolidation information.

Graduates on another hand, often have fewer options for scholarships and grants just when tuition fees rise, however teaching and/or research assistantships very commonly make up the shortfall, however these positions in effect have very low pay rates and very long hours with the student having to attend courses and doing search for their assistantship.

In recent times a new option has become available to graduate students, the PLUS loans though the acronym stands for (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students), they're now a means for a range of grad students, in the undergraduate situation parents are the borrowers and are responsible for the re-payment, in the case of grad students he or she become the responsible person.

PLUS loans have ample advantages.

Initially, they are available, since they are based on credit quality, not need-based a large proportion of borrowers are able to qualify, comparatively few grad students have had the time to get into the credit binds that working adults in many instances fall into and as a consequence he or she will usually have fewer bad marks on their credit report, this makes the decision easier for the college financial aid officials, who evaluate eligibility, however existing interest rates for PLUS loans aren't low by historical measures, rates are either 7.9% or 8.5% depending on the specific type of loan, even at the reduced rate on $10,000.00 borrowed the initially years interest total is over $750.00 and re-payments are required within 60 days of when the money is disbursed with no grace period.

Total amounts on undergraduate and graduate loans and for all non-private loans differ as well, even the maximum total amount over the lifetime of the program varies between undergraduates and graduates.

Both types of students will want to researching all available alternatives, nonetheless keep mindful that though it ordinarily requires combinations of funds from considerable sources, cash to pay for school is now more easily available than ever, the total amount of funds borrowed last calendar year by all students was over $50 billion, those funds are going to someone and without too much difficulty it could easily be you, if you keep this information in mind when looking at any student loan consolidation information.

Student Loan in Florida

2007-11-15T16:22:00.000-08:00

Student Loan Consolidation authorizes you to merge all your existing student or parent loans into one new loan from a single lender, using this new loan lender to pay off the dues on the other loans received from financial institutions or from the federal government.

Federal Stafford Loans

Federal Stafford loans are loans which have fixed-rate and low interest. These loans are available to those undergraduate students who are studying in accredited schools. Stafford loans are also the most common source of college loan funding. These loans are of two types. First is the subsidized federal Stafford loan. It is only given on the basis of financial need which is determined by the FAFSA
Decrease your monthly student loan payments in half.
If you’re a student its time to consolidate your outstanding student loan. Student loan consolidation helps you lock in a lower interest rate and it also has many incentive features.

Student Loan Sir is a free portal for students who tries to consolidate their loans or resolve their credit problems. Student Loan Dir is not a lender. our objective it to give students loans with the lowest rates possible. How do we do it? We submit your request to several lenders at the time and allowing them to compete for the best possible rate.

Student Loan Repayment Begins

2007-11-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

That’s right - you can’t hide from it anymore. If you graduated this past spring, the chances are your grace period is over and you have to start paying back your student loans. This is not the end of the world for you, just the beginning of a long relationship with your loan servicer. (Technically, the relationship started 4 years ago…but who’s counting)

You have some options. First and foremost, examine your monthly budget, and include your new student loan payments. If you can afford to make the payments, don’t defer or put your loans into forbearance just to save money. When you put your loans into forbearance or deferment, interest will continue to collect on your none-subsidized federal loans, which gets capitalized once you go back into repayment. This basically means that your total payback amount will increase. Not to mention, deferment and forbearance are intended to be used during financial hardships. If you use them up now when you can afford to pay, you won’t have them in the future when you may actually need them.

Still, you can afford the monthly payments, but now you have much less cash lying around. Consider consolidation - you can cut your monthly payment nearly in half. And, there is no penalty for extra or early repayment. So, when you claw your way to the top of the corporate ladder, and land that high paying fluff job, you can payback your remaining loan balance without being penalized.

Finally, don’t forget to consolidate your private student loans. They’re probably going into repayment right about now as well. And if you have a lot of private student loans like me, then consolidating those will also help that monthly budget stay fit. Just like federal consolidation, private consolidation will combine all of your private student debt and lower your monthly payment, without any penalties for extra or early repayment.

more on private student loan consolidation

2007-11-14T17:14:00.001-08:00

More on Private Student Loan consolidation and possible hidden fees. (continued) by Kara Lilly
Do Your Homework. Do your research. Compare, compare compare.

It’s better to take your time. And don’t feel you’re alone if it seems like too much to deal with. If you are compelled to consider a low interest student loans consolidation offer that you’ve seen advertised, it is vitally important that you do your homework. You really need to research and analyze all aspects of the low interest private student loan consolidation itself. This should include considering all documentation presented by the lender — but also independent resources of information that you will be able to find both on the Internet and World Wide Web and in the brick and mortar world.

Double Check All Provisions in a Low Interest Debt Consolidation Loan Agreement

When it comes to a low interest Private School Loans Consolidation agreement, you really do have to read everything in the agreement … everything. Provisions regarding costs, fees and charges can be hidden away in the most unlikely of places within a low interest debt consolidation loan agreement.

In the end, by following the suggestions and pointers outlined in this two part article, you will be able to make intelligent and educated decisions pertaining to a low interest private student loan consolidation. And it goes without saying thaqt you should stop by your college financial aid office to speak with one of your school’s loan counselors before making a final decision.

Private Loan Consolidation : Hidden Charges

2007-11-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

Applying for an Advertised Low Interest Private Student Loan Consolidation:
Beware of “Hidden” Costs, Fees and Charges

By Kara Lilly

Debts. Mounting Debts. Debts Out of Control. Flashing across the recesses of your own mind with regularity may be these phrases. If you are like many people in the world today, you are confronting — or trying to confront as best you can — ever mounting debt. In point of fact, you may be trying to get control over growing debt before it becomes a serious problem and before it really starts to have a negative impact on your overall credit history and credit score. One of the major debt problems that you may be having is with your private student loans.

With this in mind, one solution that you should include in your overall debt management mix and plan should be applying for private student loan consolidation, including low interest debt consolidation loan. Provided you make application for a low interest debt consolidation loan while your credit score is still in a fairly sound position, you will have a number of options available to you. However, you will need to keep in mind that oftentimes there are “hidden” fees, costs and charges that are associated with a low interest debt consolidation loan which you may have seen advertised.

The Element of Buyer Beware

When it comes to considering an advertisement for a low interest private student loan consolidation, you really do need to keep in mind the age old phrase of caveat emptor — buyer beware. With very few exceptions, a lender that is promoting a low interest debt consolidation loan through advertisements will not be fully open about all of the costs associated with that loan option. Rather, the lower interest rate necessarily (and naturally) will be prominently promoted. At best, in some very fine and nearly (if not completely) illegible print tucked away in the bottom corner of the ad will be some general information about the existence of other fees, charges and costs associated with the loan.

You need to keep in mind that no matter how closely you scrutinize the advertisement, the advertisement is not an appropriate source for you to obtain information about a low interest student consolidation loan. Speaking with the financial aid office at your school, compare on the internet and do your homework. You’ll end up with a better deal.impose a code of conduct upon educational institutions in regards to their dealings with their student body and lenders.

The house and the Congress have different versions of the bill so even though quick approval is expected in the House it may take some time to get both versions of the reform bill condensed and presentable.

At any rate student loan and student loan consolidation reform is desperately needed and I can't find anything wrong with this bill as of yet...looks like a move in the right direction.

More Student Loan & Consolidation Reform

2007-11-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

The bill is aimed at deterring the kinds of student loan scandals we have seen in recent years, most of which involved alumni or college administrators getting kickbacks from lenders. Reuters and other sources say the bill is expected to win easy approval.

The new student loan reform bill would impose a code of conduct upon educational institutions in regards to their dealings with their student body and lenders.

The house and the Congress have different versions of the bill so even though quick approval is expected in the House it may take some time to get both versions of the reform bill condensed and presentable.

At any rate student loan and student loan consolidation reform is desperately needed and I can't find anything wrong with this bill as of yet...looks like a move in the right direction.

Lawmakers introduce Higher Education Act reauthorization bill

2007-11-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

According to NCHelp.org, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Representative Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) introduced H.R. 4137 which is a five-year reauthorization bill for the Higher Education Act (HEA). The bill contains many provisions, including:

* Expand college access for low-income and minority students by increasing the maximum Pell Grant award to $9,000, allowing students to receive year-round Pell Grant scholarships, and strengthening college readiness and early awareness programs.
* Increase college aid and support programs for veterans and military families.
* Streamline the federal student financial aid application to make it easier for all eligible students to access financial aid.
o Create two-page EZ FAFSA form for students who qualify for simplified needs and auto-zero-EFC;
o Reduce the number of data elements on the FAFSA by a half;
o Require Education Department to work with the IRS to get income information for the FAFSA in order to simplify process.
* Require greatly increased reporting on how colleges spend their money and create “Higher Education Price Increase Watch Lists” of institutions that increase their tuitions above the average for their peer institutions.
* Make textbook costs more manageable for students.
* Give the Department of Education increased authority to regulate private student loans, increase loan disclosure requirements and increase requirements for lenders and institutions participating in preferred lender arrangements.
o Require schools using preferred lender lists to inform students and parents why they choose each lender on the list and their right to choose lenders no included on the list
o Federal student loan preferred lender lists would need to consist of three unaffiliated lenders and private lender lists would need to consist of two unaffiliated lenders.
* Require lenders, secondary markets, holders or guaranty agencies to provide free of charge and in a timely and effective manner, any student loan information pertaining to federal loans by an institution of higher education for a borrower who had previously attended the institution or by any third-party servicer working on behalf of that institution to prevent student loan defaults
* Call for a study of the feasibility of developing a National Electronic Student Loan Marketplace for federal and private loans.
* Increase Perkins Loan limits from $4,000 to $5,000 for undergraduates and $6,000 to $8,000 for graduate students.
* Provide public service loan forgiveness for service in areas of national need including: early childhood educators; nurses; foreign language specialists; librarians; child welfare workers; and speech-language pathologists.

Please visit NCHelp.org’s PDF file about this to get more details.

Core guidelines for repaying student loans

2007-11-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Common problems and solution

Almost every student now opts for a student loan either for their educational expenses or for their personal expenses during student life. They utilize the loan amount for the time being and are able to meet their expenses. But the problem is faced after the time comes for repayment of student loans. A student faces many financial limitations during the time of repayment. Every student must payoff their loan interest and debts timely in order to maintain the status of their loan in good condition. Upon failure to repay a single payment can lead to non-payment status of loan and can also spoil the credit score. It’s better to go for student consolidation programs or enrolling for forbearance. It is permitted for a limited duration on federal student loans or other direct loans. If you are paying your debts regularly and due to some reasons you are facing some financial problems then you can postpone your payments for a few months. After you manage to restore your monetary conditions you can start repaying your bills though forbearance. You can also go for student consolidation.

Student loan consolidation

Applying for a student consolidation loan is the all time favorite option left for students. Especially if you apply for federal student consolidation loan then you are able to fetch some added benefits for you. Some of them are like minimal interest rates and single bill payment. It is a loan taken by students to repay their present loans and therefore the most facilitating of all other options. Registering for a student consolidation loan is free and many companies proceed with your loan application within minutes. It can highly reduce your monthly payment say about 60% of the payment thus saving you a lot. However it is just an approximation, the precise monthly repayment will come up as per the sum of money rented, type of consolidation loan chosen and the prevailing interest rates.

Consult with Creditors

If you are searching for repayment of student loans other than seeking student consolidation then better consult with your creditors of the available modes of payment. It’s better to have a sound knowledge regarding each type of repayment plans before you select them. Otherwise select student consolidation schemes. If you go for Standard repayment of your loans you have a fixed interest amount and a principal amount. They remain the same throughout the entire period of time. You can also choose to go for Graduated repayment. Here you will be required to pay less initially but then the payment increases gradually with the flow of time. This plan is effective for those who are not able to repay huge amounts initially but then with the course of time can cope up with the higher payments. Then there is the Income sensitive repayment. This is the most suitable plan for some people. The repayment amount that is to be paid monthly is estimated on the borrower’s present income per month. This plan may not be available for everybody. So better check out whether it is available as per your income status or not.

Company once slammed for gun registry errors to help take over student loans

2007-11-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

OTTAWA - A company once blasted for gun registry snafus is now part of a corporation that will manage the troubled Canada Student Loans program.

Toronto-based Resolve Corp. won the five-year, $270-million contract to take over "end-to-end servicing" of debts accrued under the massive file next April 1.

The company will handle a $7-billion portfolio with an estimated 1.6 million borrowers in repayment.

Resolve was formed in 2004 through the merger of four smaller companies, including BDP Business Data Services Ltd. Former BDP chief executive officer Lawrence Zimmering now leads Resolve.

BDP made headlines after the federal privacy commissioner reported in January 2003 that envelopes bearing the names of dozens of gun registry applicants were found in bags frozen to the bottom of a dumpster. The sensitive information had been tossed with regular office trash at an undisclosed location.

Opposition MPs had a field day, noting that the addresses of dozens of homes containing guns would have been up for grabs had the bags fallen into criminal hands.

A Firearms Centre spokesman at the time said BDP immediately switched to paper shredders after it learned of the dumpster incident.

Conservative MP and anti-gun registry crusader Garry Breitkreuz, then an opposition Canadian Alliance member, also publicly assailed BDP in June 2002.

He cited Justice Department documents released under the Access to Information Act, dated April 10, 2002, showing a spike in errors after BDP won a contract to process firearms licence applications in July 2000.

"The number of licences issued with the wrong photograph increased from zero in 1999 to 99 in the year 2000, and to 157 in the year 2001," Breitkreuz said at the time.

Another Justice document dated May 19, 2002, showed that up to that point in the year, 563 licences had been issued with the wrong name, 178 licences with the wrong birth date, and 38 more with the wrong photograph, Breitkreuz said.

A spokesman for Resolve declined to comment on concerns raised by the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness about BDP's gun-registry track record.

"It is the government's program and we're not at liberty to say anything," said John Nevins.

A spokesman for the federal Public Works Department stressed that Resolve won the student loans contract after "a rigorous and competitive procurement process."

Borrower satisfaction and a reduction in student loan default rates are key goals against which Resolve's performance will be measured, said Denis Simard in an e-mailed response.

Resolve has already successfully managed a smaller proportion of loans for students attending private institutions over the last six years, he added.

The National Student Loans Service Centre is a clearing house of information for federal and some integrated provincial loans, although student groups have derided its ability to provide accurate and timely responses.

Edulinx Canada Corp. is currently the main service provider until its contract expires March 31.

Resolve Corp. won the contract to take over as of April 1 after Ottawa put out a tender to consolidate program suppliers.

But in what critics say is an ironic twist, Resolve last spring acquired Edulinx. The two companies are now merging databases, said Jason Bouzanis, a spokesman for Human Resources Canada. Edulinx describes itself on its website as "the student loan service division of Resolve Corporation."

"It's just a corporate takeover," said Mark O'Meara of the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness. "The contract is back, as far as I can see, with the people who originally lost it."

O'Meara launched www.CanadaStudentDebt.ca in 2002 as a forum for the red-tape odysseys of more than 6,000 debtors so far. It's devoted to former students swapping nightmarish stories of communication breakdowns, relentless collection agents and demolished credit ratings.

O'Meara says he has no confidence that the government will hold Resolve to account if service doesn't improve.

But Simard of Public Works said "the contract includes extensive performance measures and incentives to ensure the best possible service."

About 350,000 college and university students relied on loans worth $1.9 billion last year alone. While most debts are repaid in full and on time, default rates are estimated at about 25 per cent.

Whole websites are devoted to stressed-out tales of lost paperwork and bureaucratic horror stories that many borrowers blame for ruined credit ratings.

The Conservatives launched a review last spring to modernize and streamline the borrowing system. Results are expected in the next federal budget, likely this winter or spring.

Student Loan Repayment Begins

2007-11-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

Loan auctions not the safest bet

2007-11-12T16:35:00.000-08:00

As Congress, the White House and the Department of Education moves towards reforming the student loan industry, a few changes are taking place.

One of the changes that will be partially implemented on July 1, 2009 is an auction system in the Federal Family Educational Loan program.

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators released a report last month on "Evaluating Student Loan Auctions," just as President George W. Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which contains the auction system.

Besides dealing with the corruption within the industry, the Department of Education must ensure that the FFEL program is both saving the taxpayer dollars and not overburdening borrowers. Loan auctions are considered as one way to accomplish this.

"Beginning in July 2009, all guaranteed loans made to parents on behalf of students for whom they have not previously borrowed would be made by lenders who won the rights to make those loans through competitive auction," claims a 2007 cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. This system was designed with the intent to "inject market capitalism" into the program.

"Two winning lenders in each state who bid the smallest add-ons to the three month commercial paper (CP) rate used to calculate special allowance payments would have the right to make loans for two years. At the end of that two-year period, the auction of the right would be repeated," states the estimate.

Though, by all appearances, the auction system seems practical, the NASFAA report asserts, "The current auction system has been implemented based on several faulty assumptions."

These assumptions include an effort to drive down competition through subsidy rates, and having taxpayers save money by allowing lenders to compete for the right to originate loans. Loan auctions would not be affected because many do not qualify for the benefits anyway.

The Parent PLUS loan auctions will provide a good indication of what loan auctions will be like for all FFEL loans, further indicating market consolidation may occur on a limited basis, even though the market is already dominated by a few large lenders.

While the support for the auction system is rooted in the hopes that competition and capitalism will be brought into the current system, there is a strong possibility that this new system will create an environment for a potential oligopoly.

A 2001 U.S. General Accounting Office report, "Alternative Market Mechanisms for the Student Loan Program," argues that the diversity of lenders might decline. The report states that while there is the possibility of the auction system reducing federal FFEL program costs, "Their ability to realize this potential depends on whether there is sufficient competition in bidding."

When the competition is lacking, the big lenders will force out the small lenders and the system will fail. The system could only work well when there is an equal ability to raise cash for bids, which is not the case in this arrangement.

The NASFAA report points out that, "According to Department of Education figures, of the 20 large student loan originators in 2006, 12 are also the top 20 student loan holders. In other words, of the 20 largest loan providers competing for the loan volume, 12 also have the largest loan portfolios."

This is imperative, since large lenders have acknowledged that the presence of smaller providers, particularly nonprofits, forces loan costs down for borrowers.

Overall, the report concludes that the auction system in the FFEL program will not yield the expected consequences and will result in market consolidation.

The report urges the government to "work with loan providers, stakeholders and other non-partisan analysts to adjust subsidization level on a more frequent basis than has been done in the past."

Student loan crackdown bill offered in U.S. House

2007-11-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A bill aimed at cleaning up misconduct in the U.S. student loan industry and encouraging colleges to restrain tuition inflation was introduced in the House of Representatives on Friday.

The legislation comes after a scandal earlier this year that revealed kickbacks and conflicts of interest among lenders and some colleges, embarrassing the $85 billion industry and drawing more attention to rising college costs.

"Today's students face far too many obstacles when trying to go to college: skyrocketing college prices; an absurdly confusing financial aid application; and a student loan industry overrun with conflicts of interest," said Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

The bill from Miller, a California Democrat, would require colleges and lenders to adopt loan codes of conduct; give students more loan information; curtail aggressive loan marketing; and force colleges to report reasons for increasing tuition and plans for lowering costs.

In addition, it would shorten and simplify the long and confusing standard application form students must complete when applying for financial aid.

Legislation raising student grant funding and slashing government subsidies to lenders -- such as Sallie Mae (SLM.N: Quote, Profile , Research), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile , Research), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and many others -- was enacted earlier this year. (Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh, editing by Mark Porter)

Credit Card Debt a Growing Concern

2007-11-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

American consumers are always struggling to keep up with their monthly bills, especially credit card bills. In addition to skyrocketing gas prices and rising household expenses, credit cards are being used more often to pay for nominal items.

Credit services that offer credit counseling have seen a sharp increase in the number of families seeking help. These families have let their credit card debt get out of control, thus seek debt management programs to pay down their balances.

More and more people are using cards to get by on a daily basis for various reasons, but the main reason seems to be that they don’t have enough cash flow to sustain themselves every day. Unfortunately, this is an unending vicious cycle of debt because these people see plastic cards as the only answer to every day survival.

Credit counseling services are receiving increasing calls for debt consolidation and/or debt elimination. According to the debt counselors, credit debt help is still the most sought after service, even amid rising mortgage defaults and foreclosures.

According to the Federal Reserve (Fed) recently, outstanding credit card debt grew at an annual rate of 4.4 percent to $920.1 billion in September 2007 up from $917 billion in August. Before, plastic was used by consumers mainly for emergencies, but now it used to pay for even a stick of gum. It is mind boggling, that someone will buy $1 gum and pay up to 28% for in interest.

Alas, the consumer debt problem is of staggering proportions, at the national and individual level. At the individual level, credit repair of consumers’ credit scores and credit reports is of alarming concern as well.

It is a multi-pronged strategy that has to be implemented under the debt management program (DMP) to find resolution to the people’s concerns. The counselors negotiate with card companies on your behalf to reduce interest on debt, pay pennies on the dollar, and cut penalties.

Even though, debt counseling services can get the companies to forgo or lessen penalty fees and reduce interest rates; you also have to engender fiscal responsibility.

Getting out debt is the answer but financial discipline is the key to long-term financial success. Monthly budgeting plans and knowing your cash flow can help make implementing a financial plan easier.

The growing debt burden in America crosses every demographic: from single to married, every race, every ethnicity, and every age group. It is not uncommon to see retirees, whose only source of income is social security with five figures worth of unsecured debt.

Overall, if you find yourself in an unmanageable debt situation, haven’t been able to do it yourself, then professional help may be the answer. But the most important thing in the whole debt elimination process is serious commitment to change and a new start. Without a forthright commitment, debt management will only be a short-term resolution, not a long-term solution.

Recent Graduates Having Trouble Making Their Student Loan Payments Should Consider Looking Into Their Deferment and Forbearance Options

2007-11-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

If you graduated in May with federal Stafford student loans, you may be facing the prospect of adjusting your budget to accommodate new monthly student loan payments as your six-month grace periods end sometime this month. If you’re still doing temp work, looking for a job, or if you just got stuck with a lower-than-expected entry-level salary, it’s entirely possible that you’re not sure how you’re going to come up with the money you’re going to need each month to a meet a new monthly expense from student loans going into repayment.

The main thing is don’t be embarrassed! A lot of student loan borrowers go through periods when they’re having trouble making their student loan payments. Your federal student loans come with deferment and forbearance benefits that can help you through those times when money’s a little short.

If you’re a recent graduate—or any parent or student loan borrower—who’s having trouble making your student loan payments each month, NextStudent, a leading Phoenix-based education funding company, urges you to contact your lenders about your deferment and forbearance options, which allow you to temporarily reduce or postpone your student loan payments without compromising your credit score or defaulting on you student loans.

Deferment

Deferment allows you to temporarily stop making payments on your student loans. If you’re unemployed or experiencing economic hardship, you may be able to request a deferment, for up to a year at a time, up to a total of three years over the life of the student loan. You must contact your lender to request an unemployment or hardship deferment, and you may need to complete a deferment request form.

Forbearance

If you’re unemployed or experiencing economic hardship, you may be able to request a forbearance, which allows you to temporarily reduce or postpone payments on your student loans. You must contact your lender to request a hardship forbearance, and you typically need to complete a forbearance request form. You may also need to submit supporting documentation, depending on the nature of your request.

Generally, a lender can grant a forbearance for up to a year at a time. Unlike unemployment or economic hardship deferments, there is no three-year cumulative limit on discretionary forbearance periods granted due to financial hardship.

Interest Charges on Student Loans in Deferment or Forbearance

Interest charges continue to accrue on your student loans even while they’re in a deferment or forbearance period. The government will pay the interest on any subsidized student loans (such as Perkins or subsidized Stafford loans) that you have in deferment, but you’ll be responsible for the interest on your unsubsidized student loans (such as Grad PLUS or unsubsidized Stafford loans) that are in deferment and on any student loans, whether subsidized or unsubsidized, that are in forbearance.

Any unpaid interest that accrues during a deferment or forbearance period will be capitalized and added to your principal student loan balance for you to repay once repayment resumes. To avoid having accrued interest added to your principal student loan balance, you can always choose to make interest payments during deferment or forbearance periods in which your payments are postponed.

Student Loans Eligible for Deferment or Forbearance

Most federal student loans are eligible for deferment and forbearance benefits. This includes:

1. Perkins loans
2. Stafford loans
3. PLUS loans
4. Grad PLUS loans
5. Federal Consolidation Loans

If you’re already taken advantage of the federal student loan consolidation program to consolidate Stafford loans or any other federal student loans, you still have deferment and forbearance benefits available to you.

Some private student loans may also offer deferment or forbearance periods—you should contact your private student loan lender.

Make sure you contact your lender if you’re considering an economic hardship deferment or forbearance. Hardship deferments and discretionary forbearances are typically not automatic. You may be required to fill out a deferment or forbearance request form and submit supporting documentation.

More Information on Deferment, Forbearance, and Student Loan Repayment Options

If you’re looking for more in-depth information on deferment and forbearance benefits, or if you have questions about your student loan repayment options, check out our free online guides to deferment and forbearance benefits and to repayment terms and options for federal student loans. If you still have questions, NextStudent’s knowledgeable Education Finance Advisors are always happy to help — just give us a call!

NextStudent believes that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we’re dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding simple. Learn more about Student Loans, Private Student Loans and Student Loan Consolidation at www.nextstudent.com.

Students loan program

2007-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Presently the charges for the further edification are becoming pricey and so sometimes it is not possible for every people to maintain the expenditure of the course studies of the student. Thus during that time a loan getting sanctioned is of immense help for the student. Thus two extensive groups of apprentice credits are obtainable in the markets which are private student credits and Government apprentice credits.

Private student credits

Pecuniary organization and banks govern and aid the private student credits. These institutions offer the credit at much greater interest’s rate in comparison with the national apprentice credits. Some of the popular the private student credit organizations are Sallie Mae and Citibank. The procedure is also different in these credit organizations rather than national apprentice credits. Students are permissible to apply for both the credit section like the private one and the Government one depending on the higher study requirement.

National apprentice credits

The United States educational division aids and governs the national apprentice credits for higher studies. It can be categorized beneath Federal Student Loans Aid Program. The eligibility criteria and the requisites are very negligible apart from that the student is pursuing education some United States university or college. Students who come from one country to another country for education can also apply for student loan program. Almost each year sixty billion dollars are spent fro the apprentice credit support course and thus it is advisable to opt for the national apprentice credits for the higher education of the students as the rate interests are very economical.

In order to prevent the monetary drain of the family and for students who is already obtained few loans and need to be reimbursed at that point of time apprentice debt consolidation loan appears as the grace of Almighty. Through the apprentice debt consolidation loan all the outstanding installments of the previous loan are cleared up along with the other educational expenses. Thus all the previous credits settlements are cleared a fresh installment starts in a monthly scheme.

Apprentice consolidated credit facilities

Apprentice consolidated credit also facilitates several benefits. The interest’s rates are very lesser as it is calculated on the basis of average rate of interests and this is because of the legislation of the government that the rate of the interests cannot exceed more than 8.25 percent. It is very helpful for the student as the apprentice is required to handle only one credit installment and also at low interest rate. The reimbursement part is also very relaxed in the matter of national apprentice credits. The disbursement of the amount can commence after the student has obtained a bachelor degree after completion of schooling. Various other alternatives are also available. With the help of apprentice consolidated loan the credit status of the individual is also improved as the installments are clearly reimbursed within proper time period. Once the credit status is improved it is beneficial for the student as they can opt for any other loan in future. Thus opting for student’s loan program should be done after the thorough research in the respective field.

6 years on, gov’t finally agrees to a Loan Discharge Application for Spouses and Parents of 9/11 Victims

2007-11-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

Today, the Department of Education released a Dear Colleague letter regarding “Approval of Loan Discharge Application for Spouses and Parents of September 11, 2001 Victims”

The summary is:
This letter announces the approval of a new loan discharge application for use by borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan), and Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) programs who are the spouses or parents of eligible public servants or other eligible victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The whole letter is here:

Publication Date: November 9, 2007

DCL ID: GEN-07-08
FP-07-10
CB-07-15

Subject: Approval of Loan Discharge Application for Spouses and Parents of September 11, 2001 Victims

Summary: This letter announces the approval of a new loan discharge application for use by borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan), and Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) programs who are the spouses or parents of eligible public servants or other eligible victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Posted on 11-09-2007

Dear Colleague:

As we previously announced in DCL GEN-06-21, the Third Higher Education Extension Act of 2006 (the THEEA), Public Law 109-292, authorized the discharge of the outstanding balance of certain FFEL, Direct Loan, and Perkins Loan program loans made to the spouses or parents of eligible public servants and other eligible victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Interim final regulations implementing this new loan discharge provision were published in the Federal Register on December 28, 2006 (71 FR 78075). Final regulations were published on September 28, 2007 (72 FR 55049).

The loan discharge benefit created by the THEEA is available only for FFEL, Direct Loan, and Perkins Loan program loans on which amounts were owed on September 11, 2001, and on which amounts are still owed on the date the discharge is requested. The THEEA does not authorize the refunding of any payments that a borrower made on a loan prior to the loan discharge date.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved a new loan discharge application under OMB No. 1845-0079 (Loan Discharge Application: Spouses and Parents of September 11, 2001 Victims) to be used by eligible FFEL, Direct Loan, and Perkins Loan borrowers to apply for the new loan discharge.

Implementation of the New Loan Discharge Application

The attached Loan Discharge Application: Spouses and Parents of September 11, 2001 Victims may be made available to borrowers for immediate use. FFEL Program participants and Perkins Loan schools must make the new loan discharge application available to borrowers no later than January 31, 2008. Requests for the new loan discharge made by borrowers using other means that were in place before January 31, 2008 may continue to be processed after that date.

Printing Instructions and Imaging Technology

The attached form must be printed with black ink on white paper. The typeface, point size, and general presentation of the form may not be changed from the OMB-approved form. No changes to, deletions from, or additions to the approved language on the form are allowed, except that the order of the loan program names that appear throughout the form (Federal Family Education Loan Program, William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, and Federal Perkins Loan Program) may be changed depending on the program for which the form is being used. The blank spaces at the top, bottom, or sides of the form may be used for bar coding.

To accommodate imaging technology, the instructions tell the borrower to complete and sign the form in ink. However, a pencil signature does not invalidate the form.

Obtaining Copies for Reproduction

The Loan Discharge Application: Spouses and Parents of September 11, 2001 Victims is available in PDF and Microsoft Word format as attachments to this letter. In addition, the form is also available on the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) web site at www.nchelp.org.

Sincerely,

Jeff Baker, Director
Policy Liaison and Implementation
Federal Student Aid

Attachments/Enclosures:

GEN-07-08: Loan Discharge Application in Microsoft Word, 216KB, 4 pages

GEN-07-08: Loan Discharge Application in PDF Format, 87KB, 4 pages

Safe harbors for your money, legislation, Free Stuff Friday, Planet of Women

2007-11-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

Student Financial Aid News
+ Inside Higher Ed: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives failed to muster enough votes Thursday in support of a 2008 spending bill for education and health programs to override a certain veto by President Bush. Fifty-one Republicans joined 223 Democrats in voting for the appropriations measure for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Labor and Related Agencies, but that’s short of the necessary two-thirds. The bill would increase the maximum Pell Grant to $4,925 in 2008 and increase spending on the National Institutes of Health by $1 billion, to $30 billion. But President Bush and Republican critics say the bill spends irresponsibly.

+ It was pointed out at MASFAA yesterday that the current bill is $22 billion over the President’s budget; prior budgets during the Republican controlled Congress were $55 billion over and there was no problem approving those…

+ Interesting read on the Chronicle about the growth of private student loans

+ Asked by The Chronicle if Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had seen significant evidence of either layoffs or benefit reductions, the secretary answered during a conference call with reporters last week: “I’ve heard about some layoffs and maybe have seen some press about it, but no.” Asked again if she has seen any evidence even of students facing higher costs, she added: “No, have not.”

+ Which newspapers does she read, I wonder?

+ Federal student loan consolidation benefits across the board have been wiped out - those benefits used to save students tens of thousands of dollars on the life of a loan, and are no longer available from anyone

+ Followup piece and quote from TheStreet.com: “The hard part is figuring out what you own,” says James Holtzman, adviser and shareholder at Legend Financial Advisors. He says more than a few clients have inquired about whether or not their money market fund has exposure to subprime or any mortgage-backed debt.

+ Holtzman says he’s not opposed to recommending investors move to a “garbage-free” money market account, earn just over 4%, and wait this out for the next 18 months.

+ “Cash isn’t a bad thing at different points in the market cycle, and this is one of them,” he says.

+ FDIC savings accounts at places like ING Direct can give you relatively modest but safe returns, backed by FDIC insurance up to $100,000

+ Talk to a financial planner, do your research, and be careful out there!

Scholarship Update

+ The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) is an international, nonprofit organization whose members are concerned with the development and enforcement of uniform food, drug and other consumer protection laws.

+ The recipients should have demonstrated a desire to serve in a career of research, regulatory work, quality control, or teaching in an area related to some aspect of foods, drugs or consumer product safety; should have demonstrated leadership capabilities; and must have at least a 3.5 grade point average during the first two years of undergraduate study.

+ Two awards for $1,500
+ February 1 deadline
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Kiplingers recommends federal loans over private loans

2007-11-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Kiplinger’s had a recent article pointing out the benefits of federal loans like Stafford and PLUS over the private loans that have flooded the market. It also discusses how to deal with any private loans you may have. Here are some excerpts:

…

Outside the federal student-loan program, your options are limited. Federal Stafford loans offer more-favorable repayment terms than private loans, plus more opportunities to have loans forgiven.

…

your best bet is to shop around for the best terms you can find on a private-loan consolidation (compare programs at SimpleTuition.com and FinAid.org). If your credit score has improved significantly since you took out the loans, you may be able to get a better rate.

Consolidating also lets you stretch out the term of the loan, which may lower your monthly payments. You’ll pay more interest over time, but the breather could get you over a hump. And you can pay ahead on your loans as your income rises, as long as there are no prepayment penalties.

Some occupations forgive loans as a recruiting tool. And if you meet income requirements, you can deduct up to $2,500 per year in interest on any loans used for higher education.

Once you’ve arranged the best terms you can, you’ll just have to bite the bullet.

Leisa Aiken, a financial adviser in Chicago, recommends that clients with significant student-loan debt go on a crash program to pay off high-rate debt as soon as possible, even if it means continuing to live like a student. Move back home with Mom and Dad, get rid of the car, take a second job, and put the extra cash toward your most expensive loans. Low-interest loans can wait. “Paying $150 a month on a 4% loan isn’t all bad,” says Aiken. “It’s more of a nuisance.”

Easy ways to terminate your debts

2007-11-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

Loan consolidation

Student loans are some of the most inevitable fads that are required by a student. They are highly essential to pay for educational and a variety of expenses that crop up during student life. Getting a student loan is not so difficult but the liabilities are faced when it comes to the time of repayment of the loans after college life is over. Everything is messed up and we end up with nothing but multiple bills every month each demanding timely payment. It’s a good idea to go for student consolidation of loans. It involves taking a loan on a very low rate of interest to payoff the debts of existing loans. That simplifies the matter a bit. What’s more! Every month you get a single bill instead of multiple bills along with a fixed low rate of interest. With a student consolidation loan you are able to repay after a longer period of time. The result is that you need to repay a single lender instead of many. There are many such organizations and companies that offer consolidation loan at affordable interest rates for you.

Mode of repayment

Generally a student consolidation loan has attractive options of repayment. You can choose either weekly or monthly payment of the debts. The sum of repayment will depend on the total amount of loan taken by you. Today with the availability of improved banking options you are able to pay your lender straight through your bank account. Also you can pay online if the bank has online transaction facility. You can also have other options. Deposit cash into your existing bank account whenever you get them in hand. So, at the end of the month you are not throttled with the problem of getting money for repayment of loans. However a student consolidation loan has flexible payment facility; so you can repay them at ease. Do not neglect when it comes to the time of repayment. That builds up a huge interest. So at the end of the year you are left with a huge bill demanding a huge payment from you. While refinancing with a student loan consolidation surely search for faster repayment options of loans. This however prevents much of your cash from overflowing out of your pocket.

Stop repaying using credit cards!

Many people try to repay their student loans by utilizing their credit cards. This seems to be a temporary solution but its going to charge you hard as you have to repay this credit loan in the future. So stop the use of credit cards for such purpose. If you have gone for student consolidation then better try to arrange for money to repay your monthly bill. Credit card payment for this will lead to a further monetary problem. So, better stick to such effective tips and go for student consolidation loan to fund your education and also to payoff your existing loans. You will also be able to repay your debts much faster and easier and will be surely benefited in the long run.

Bad Credit and Federal vs. Private Student Loans

2007-11-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

Students and bad credit… Well, there is some help. The parent of the Student Loan Network, Edvisors, has created a student credit education resource - StudentPlatinum.com. The site offers a number of good articles on how to build and maintain good credit or fix your bad (”poor”) credit. Check it out when you have some free time - it might help.

In the meantime -what loans are available for students with poor credit? First, consider the Federal Stafford Loan - there is no credit component to it so you should qualify. Learn more at www.StaffordLoan.com The amount you can borrow from the Stafford Loan is limited and, of course, you need more money.

Private Student Loans, taken out in the student’s name, do require a credit check. We always recommend you apply for a private student loan with a cosigner who has good - or even better - great credit. Applying with a cosigner improves your chances of getting approved and getting a better interest rate.

The Federal PLUS Loan is another option. The PLUS Loan (or Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students) will be in your parent’s name - your credit is not a factor. If your parent has bad credit and gets denied for the PLUS Loan, you can then talk with your financial aid office and get additional funds through the Unsubsidized Stafford loan. Learn more at www.ParentPLUSLoan.com

The details for all these loan programs are available on our site, StudentLoanNetwork.com. Do your research and work on improving your credit. It will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Need FAFSA Completed Fast

2007-11-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

This morning, I chatted with a young woman who needed to have her FAFSA completed ASAP. She was told by financial aid that she could qualify for Stafford loan but needs this once piece of the puzzle completed in order for her to obtain any sort of financial aid. She called me because she needed advice on how to get the FAFSA completed ASAP. I explained to her that I felt the most efficient way is to complete the FAFSA online at www.fafsaonline.com. I know it’s scary stuff filling out such a lengthy document completely online. But I promise everyone, the Internet is our friend! Do the FAFSA online! Reason why is because the Government needs the FAFSA filled out just right. When you file online, the system will catch a lot of mistakes and send you back to fix them.Your on your own if you fill it out online. If you do certain things incorrectly, you’ll receive a bunch of paperwork that basically means denied!

Also, keep in mind that you have to update this paperwork every year you are in school. When you do it online, all of your forms will be saved from year to year so it can be completed pretty easily.

Trust me folks do it online! Soon enough the paper form will be extinct.

The Student Loan Network: Stafford Federal Student Loans, Parent PLUS Loans, Student Loan Consolidation, Private Student Loans, Education Loans/College Loans

Sallie Mae Demands SUNY Colleges Turn Over Students' Personal Data

2007-11-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Loan Giant Attempts to Use State Open Record Laws to Help it Market Private Loans

Lenders that market private loans directly to students are increasingly using state open government laws to demand public colleges turn over personal data on their students.

Late last month, student loan giant Sallie Mae filed a New York Freedom of Information Law request asking community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system to provide the company with the names, telephone numbers, and home mailing and e-mail addresses of "all admitted and enrolled students for academic year 2007-2008." The request, which came from the company's Direct Marketing division, also asked the schools to identify the age, graduating class, and major of each student listed.

Such requests from direct-to-consumer private student loan companies are raising alarms among college financial aid administrators, who worry that the companies are trying to lure their students to take on unnecessarily high levels of debt. They have also caught the attention of the Education Department. In a letter to college officials in September, Diane Auer Jones, the Department's Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, warned them to be extremely careful about the types of information they release.

The Federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits colleges from disclosing "personally identifiable information from a student's education records" without that student's written consent, with some limited exceptions. Schools, for instance, do not have to get a student's permission before releasing "directory information," which includes "the student's name, address, telephone listing, e-mail address, major field of study, and other information that generally would not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy," Jones noted in her letter. Individual students, however, have the right to bar their colleges from releasing that type of information about them.

Some lenders have used open record requests to try to get colleges to provide them with lists of students who are in financial distress. One loan provider, for example, filed a particularly aggressive request with George Fox University in Oregon. In an e-mail message posted on an Internet discussion group for financial aid administrators, Robert A. Clarke, the university's Financial Aid Director, reported that the lender had specifically asked for lists of students and recent graduates with federal loans and those who were delinquent in repaying them. According to Jones' letter, colleges are prohibited from giving out information on "a student's financial aid status" without that student's authorization. In addition, "institutions are not required by FERPA," she wrote, "to actively seek such consent."

Sallie Mae appears to have carefully crafted its New York Freedom of Information Law request to ensure that the information it was seeking -- all of which could be classified as "directory information" -- was FERPA proof.

Nevertheless, SUNY officials are expected to reject Sallie Mae's request, arguing that the New York statute allows state agencies to deny access to lists of names and addresses that have been sought for commercial purposes, as no public purpose is served by such a disclosure. Should the university take this action, Sallie Mae will have 30 days to file an appeal, and if that fails, seek a judicial review of the case.

It is unclear how far Sallie Mae will push the issue. But one thing's for certain -- the loan giant is not one to duck a fight. We at Higher Ed Watch plan to track this battle closely because it could have major implications for students. We believe that if Sallie Mae succeeds in using state open record laws in New York or other states to gain customers, the floodgates will open and students will be sitting ducks, not just for loan providers but all sorts of other commercial enterprises, including credit card companies.

State open record laws were created to provide citizens with access to public records in order to hold government officials accountable for their actions. It is unconscionable that Sallie Mae and other private loan providers are trying to use open government laws to lure students into risky and expensive private loans.

Editor's Note, Oct. 12: A previous version of this post noted that "Sallie Mae and other private loan providers are trying to use open government laws to lure students into risky and expensive private loans before exhausting cheaper and safer federal loans." In fact, one in five private student loan borrowers does assume a private loan before they exhaust safer, cheaper federal loan options. However, we have been reminded that in wake of its original buyout agreement with JC Flowers and Company, Sallie Mae announced it would urge borrowers to exhaust federal loans first. We applaud this policy. How vigorous and successful the strategy has been for Sallie Mae is uncertain. Perhaps they'll tell us. Regardless, not all private loan providers have adopted similar 'encouragement' policies. New America has altered its original post to remove reference to federal loan exhaustion. But it continues to be a topic on which our future work will focus.

http://www.newamerica.net/blogs/education_policy/2007/10/news_scoop_sallie_mae_demands_suny_schools_turn_over_personal_data_their_students

All Kinds of Loan Calculators

2007-11-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Nova Loan Calculator
Simple interest loan calculator
http://www.nova.edu/~willheat/loan.xml

Abgcomp Loan Calculator
Online calculator for simple loans
http://www.abgcomp.co.uk/gadgets/loan_calculator.xml

Mortgage Calculator
basic interactive loan repayment calculator in Flash
http://frikle.net/calc_mini.xml

Loan Interest Rate Calculator by BizCalcs.com
Wondering what the interest rate is on your loan? Give me the loan amount, monthly payment and length of the loan and I'll calculate the interest rate being charged.
http://www.bizcalcs.com/GG/Simple-Loan-Rate.xml

Loan Payment Calculator by BizCalcs.com
Need to know if you can afford it? Find out the monthly payment on any loan.
http://www.bizcalcs.com/GG/Simple-Loan-Payment.xml

Existing Auto Loan Analysis Calculator by BizCalcs.com
Are you paying on a loan and wondering how long you've been paying, how much interest or the total paid so far? This calculator will answer those questions, plus show you the remaining time to payoff, remaining interest and the total remaining to be paid.
http://www.bizcalcs.com/GG/Auto-Existing-Loan-Analysis.xml

find a mortgage loan
find a mortgage loan with this google gadget
http://official-info.com/mortgage.xml

Mortgage Payment Comparison Calculator by BizCalcs.com
Compare the monthly payments for up to 4 mortgage loans. This calculator will then show you the monthly principal and interest payment, the total amount of interest you will pay and the total amount of money you will spend over the life of each loan.
http://www.bizcalcs.com/gg/compare-mortgage-payments.xml

Student Loan Consolidation Payment Calculator
Student loan consolidation monthly payment calculator - shows your savings on federal student loan consolidation.
http://www.studentloanconsolidator.com/calcwidget/calcgadget.xml

Credit Card Debt Can Be Avoided With Smart Credit Card tips

2007-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Credit cards have become omnipresent; they have now eclipsed cash as a common method of payment in America. Plastic money is the new American currency. The use of credit convenience has evolved into a nightmare of credit card debt inconvenience for many Americans. The lure of plastic cards has made it difficult to imagine life without them. It is the appeal of not seeing cash money leave your pocket that spellbinds consumers, hence for many of them begins an unending cycle of expensive consumer debt. Consumer credit issues involve debt consolidation, credit card consolidation, or credit counseling. Before debt becomes an issue and you have to seek out the guidance of a trusted consumer counseling service, learn to be an educated and savvy credit consumer and avoid the future pitfalls of debt. Even if you are already in debt, unless you plan on stop using cards in the future, this article can give you guidance on how to avoid any future debt pitfalls. These are the seven smart tips about credit cards:

1. Shop around for the best deal

You are probably inundated with credit card mailers and phone calls soliciting your business. With literally hundreds of credit card offers to choose from, it’s smart to shop for the best deal. At the basic level, which meets the criteria of most American consumers is a card with a low Annual Percentage Yield (APR) and no annual fee. It is a boring proposition, but read beyond the promotional rates and go where the asterisks lead you, the zone of fine print.

The fine print is where you get the real information, such as when does the promotion rate expire, what does the rate jump up to, what are the late payment penalties, and if you make a late payment how does that affect your APR, amongst other components of your credit card.

2. Build a good credit rating

Avoid late payments by paying your credit card bills on time. Also, pay your credit debt off completely, if you don’t it could negatively affect your credit rating. A diminished credit score can be very expensive in terms of getting approved for low interest loans and employment offers that require good credit history. So if you stay within your means and pay your bills on time, you can avoid getting into debt, having a bad credit report and needing credit repair. The axiom is pay on time and stay within your means.

3. Make online shopping safer

Before making purchases online, read the website privacy policy as well as the security features. Only, if you are satisfied with the website policy in these two areas should you endeavor to shop. Also, some credit card companies provide a one-time use account number for large online purchases so that you don’t have to use your real account number for the transaction.

4. Limit the number of your cards

Stop carrying a bulky wallet filled with credit cards. At most you need two to three cards. Having too many cards can work against you when it comes to apply for a loan or mortgage. Your loan lender may determine since you already have access to so much money through your cards, the added loan debt may strain your ability to repay the loan.

5. Understand your consumer credit rights

Know and understand your rights as a consumer under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Credit Billing Act, Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You can get more information about these important federal laws and consumer rights on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) website, The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection works for you, the American consumer.

6. Switch balances carefully

Don’t transfer your high interest rate balances or do a credit card debt consolidation to a lower interest rate credit card, until you read the fine print. The low rate for the balance transfer most likely is for a limited time, involves transaction fees, sometimes up to 4 percent of the amount transferred. The hefty fees charged, may outweigh any savings provided by a lower interest rate. Also, if you don’t pay off your complete transferred balance before the limited time offer expires, a new high interest rate sets in.

Educate yourself about the total costs of having credit cards; you owe it to yourself.

http://www.secureloanconsolidation.com/articles_credit-card-tips.asp

Get Out of Credit Card Debt

2007-11-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Credit card debt has been growing at a steady pace for many Americans over the years. Millions of Americans are having difficulty even keeping up with minimum monthly payments, let alone have the ability to pay off the debt. For most, the debt cycle is an unending one, in many cases requiring credit counseling to end it.

But the debt, especially credit card debt can be a costly affair not just in terms of monies owed, but in the realm of your credit score and credit report. Unpaid debt can be lead to a lowered credit score, affecting negatively the credit report requiring time consuming credit repair.

The last thing you want to do after paying off your debt is to get back into debt again. However, statistically it has been shown over and over again, that once people get out of debt rehab, they go back to credit card addiction.

Henceforth, it is time to shift your mind away from the cycle of debt, debt consolidation, and credit counseling. It is time to start anew. It is time to shift your thoughts away from just debt reduction to how you can avoid debt.

But remember, not all debt is bad, home buying, student loans, and school loans are considered good debt. You will always have some form of debt in life, the Super Rich among us even have it, but they are more sophisticated in their use of debt, they call it leverage.

According to the Federal Reserve Board's Surveys of Consumer Finance, the country’s richest 1% piled on $342 billion in new debt between 1998 and 2004. The richest 1% of Americans are households with net worth, (including primary residence) of at least $6 million.

The richest 1% of Americans, own 34% of all privately held wealth, never has wealth been so highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. Such disproportionate control of wealth is accompanied by a holding a disproportionate amount of debt. The same 1% holds 7% of the nation's total consumer debt, roughly $650 billion.

Unlike the average middle class American who spends his paycheck on a new car or a big screen TV, the rich leverage debt or invest it to make more money.

The reason I am sharing this with you is not because I want you to start playing the credit card arbitrage game, but to avoid and stay off consumer debt. It is going to be a lifestyle change, a change of habits, and a change in thinking; this must be done to avoid consumer debt.

Here are Six Simple Rules for avoiding debt and controlling your finances:

Start an emergency savings fund, preferably to meet three to six months of expenses.
Mitigate risk. Get proper car insurance, home insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, and life insurance.
Recognize you weakness with regards to credit card use and change the habits.
Budget monthly. Track your income and expenses on a monthly and yearly basis.
Think long-term. Don’t be myopic with your finances. Do long-term financial planning
Stay vigilant of your finances and disciplined in your spending.

If you follow the above rules you will be okay in your finances for the long-term.

http://www.secureloanconsolidation.com/articles_get-out-credit-debt.asp

Gaurav Bhola, Managing Editor

College endowments meet shaky markets

2007-11-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

With tuition costs rising, can donations continue to pay part of the freight?

To no one's surprise, the College Board reported on Oct. 22 that tuition at public and private colleges for the 2007-08 academic year continued to outpace inflation. But this year adds a new wrinkle — how the recent market turmoil will affect college endowments.

For some of the priciest schools, the above-average investment returns in recent years — as the markets boomed and hedge fund investments soared — have helped take the edge off upward pressure on tuition. If those returns suffer, those relentless tuition bills could edge even higher.

For example, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, the endowment — worth about $3 billion — contributed about $125 million to the school's operating budget in academic year 2006-07, paying for programs, financial aid, and endowed chairs for faculty, among other items, says Michael Schoenfeld, Vanderbilt's vice-chancellor for public affairs. "It lowers the cost of tuition, it's a fairly simple transaction," Schoenfeld says. "If we didn't have the payout from that endowment, the cost of educating students would not go down. It would have to be replaced somewhere else."

The majority of endowment funds are concentrated at a small number of elite institutions in the public and private sector, with the wealthiest 10% of colleges and universities holding the most assets, according to the College Board. Schools such as Harvard and Yale have multibillion-dollar endowments that are so high that some members of the Senate Finance Committee called last month for the schools to use more of that money to reduce soaring tuition costs.

Tuition hikes
Anyone with college-age kids knows why costs are a hot-button issue. This year's College Board report shows hikes of more than 6% in tuition and fees for both public and private colleges. The increases are consistent with last year's, though the rate of increase at four-year public colleges is the lowest in five years. While the figures for tuition fees are the "sticker price" of a school, the cost of room and board and financial-aid grants means that what students actually pay is often much different.

The rising costs are driven by a variety of factors, from a slowdown of growth in the student financial-aid sector to flat or insufficient state funding at public colleges, said Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the College Board, during a press conference held in Washington, D.C., to release the findings. "There is no startling piece of information, but the data we have this year does confirm that the average price of college is continuing to rise more rapidly than the consumer price index and more rapidly than the average prices in economy," Baum said.

Four-year public colleges have taken the hardest hit, with the rate of growth in tuition and fees this decade the highest it has been in 30 years. The average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges for the 2007-08 academic year are $6,185, up $381 (or 6.6%) from last year, the College Board said. Those numbers don't include room and board and other expenses, which add about $7,404 to the bill.

The consumer price index for all urban consumers rose 2.8% between September, 2006, and September, 2007.

Costs at private universities saw similar increases to those at four-year public schools. Tuition and fees for this school year averaged $23,712, a $1,404 (or 6.3%) increase over last year. University officials cited rising utility rates, health care, and workers' compensation costs among the reasons for the hikes.

This is the first year that the College Board included in its report a chart with the overall endowment assets of colleges and universities. The endowment is an important figure to keep in mind when looking at tuition because colleges tend to spend 4% to 6% of their endowment earnings as part of their annual budget, said Baum. Private four-year colleges and universities tend to have the lion's share of endowment funds, with overall endowment assets of $82,700 per full-time student, while public four-year colleges and universities have about $13,800 per student.

Thirty-one private colleges have endowments of at least $1 billion, while 1,486 others have endowments of about $13 million, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU).

Many of these schools use their endowment earnings to cover the cost of grants to students, money that has become even more important as federal grant aid is waning, according to David Warren, president of the NAICU. For example, the inflation-adjusted number for Pell Grants — a federal grant program funded by the U.S. Education Dept. — in academic year 2006-07 was $12.8 billion, down from $13 billion five years ago, Warren notes.

Offsetting costs
With less federal grant aid, public colleges and universities turn, in part, to their endowments to offset the cost of tuition for students, a factor that plays less of a role at public universities, where a bulk of their operating funds come from state appropriations. Schools also are looking at cost cuts and other sources of revenue to keep tuition from rising even further.

"Certainly for some institutions that do have a significant endowment, that endowment does play a large role in subsidizing the price that students pay," says Donald Heller, an associate professor and senior research associate at Pennsylvania State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education. "Without that endowment, students would be paying a lot more than they actually are."

Still, the fluctuations of the stock market are unlikely to have an impact on tuition costs at private colleges unless there is a continued economic downturn, Heller notes. Most institutions try to minimize the fluctuation in their endowment value by insulating their assets as much as possible from the ups and downs of the stock market, investing them in hedge funds and other vehicles — though it's not clear yet whether the subprime crisis is affecting college endowment holdings in those areas.

"The reality is in the short-term, a downturn in the stock market or other markets will have relatively little impact on the operating budget of a university," Heller says. "It will take a number of years of downturns before we start to see an impact."

Interested in Public Service? You might get a discount on your loans

2007-11-07T19:40:00.001-08:00

The Kansas City Star has a good analysis of the provisions buried within the new College Cost Reduction Act. Read the excerpts below:

Students interested in public service jobs can get loan incentives

By STEVE ROSEN

The new federal law that revamps college education financing contains two hidden gems for students interested in civic-minded jobs.

Buried deep in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act — signed by President Bush in September — are incentives that essentially forgive thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt for graduates entering teaching, social work, public health, public interest law and other eligible public service areas.

…

Here are details:

Sweet forgiveness

Students with an altruistic bent have an added incentive to pursue their passion.

Under the new Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, borrowers who work for at least 10 years in a qualified job will be eligible to have their remaining loan balance forgiven. In other words, the balance of a student loan — meaning principal and interest — is forgiven after 120 monthly payments, or 10 years. The borrower must be current on payments.

Only students who borrow from the federal government directly qualify for this deal. Students who borrow from banks and other lenders can become eligible by consolidating their loans through the federal Direct Loan program.

According to Department of Education, eligible jobs include “full-time job in emergency management, government, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education, social work, public interest law services, child care, and public library sciences.”

…

Teaching incentive

The federal legislation also provides a spark for students who dream of teaching.

Students in education and teacher preparation programs who commit to teaching for at least four years after graduation can apply for annual grants of $4,000 to defray college costs. According to the regulations, grant money generally must be used for tuition and fees and may not exceed $16,000 for undergraduates or $8,000 for graduates.

The following fields are eligible for the grants: math, science, foreign language, bilingual education, special education and reading specialists. The Education Department said other “high need” positions may later be covered.

There’s one catch: If a student ultimately decides not to teach, the grants must be repaid.

PA’s student loan company in trouble for give-aways

2007-11-07T19:36:00.001-08:00

This one actually made me chuckle. Read the excerpt below from PennLive.com:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s student loan agency spent about $2.2 million over five years on promotional giveaways, such as logo-enscribed golf balls, pencils, clothing and reusable glowing ice cubes, a newspaper reported.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported Sunday that in the five years ending June 30, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency purchased, among other items, 150 brass clocks at $22 each, $30 L.L. Bean jackets, 3,000 peppermint candies with its logo on the wrapper and $3,400 worth of gummy brains candy.

“Gummy brains? The officials at PHEAA must have gummy brains if they were willing to waste scholarship money on these types of wasteful expenditures,” said Rep. Josh Shapiro.

Graduate from Colby College debt-free

2007-11-07T19:10:00.001-08:00

The Kennebec Journal is reporting on a new program at Colby College for in-state students that will help many of them graduate from school debt-free. They’ll accomplich this by replacing loans in their financial aid packages with grants

This is great news for anyone living in Maine who wants to go to Colby!

Will student loan reforms cut borrowers' costs?

2007-10-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Will student loan reforms cut borrowers' costs?
Congress considers various proposals to pare lending rates, subsidies

By John W. Schoen

When the fall semester starts and Congress returns to work next month, students and their families may get a break on the cost of borrowing to pay tuition. But the details of how those breaks will be apportioned are very much up for grabs. And it remains to be seen just how much money these reforms will save student borrowers and their families.

Congress has been hashing out student loan reforms for months, following revelations of conflicts of interest and other student lending abuses by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. That investigation is ongoing, but settlements with several dozen schools and lenders have yielded refunds to student borrowers and stricter guidelines on business dealings between lenders and school financial aid offices.

A recent report by the Government Accountability Office criticized the Dept. of Education for not being vigilant enough with policing conflicts of interest among schools and student lenders and called for increased oversight.

Both the House and Senate have weighed in on the issue, proposing regulations barring lenders from paying financial incentives to schools and requiring fuller disclosure of joint marketing efforts.

With the Cuomo’s office continuing its investigation, proposed tighter federal oversight of student lending practices have drawn little opposition — in part because Congress wants to head off state-by-state regulation of the industry.

"The danger is that you’ll have a disparate set of rules and no centralized way to monitor them," said John Walda, president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

Congress is also proposing significant changes in the way the $85 billion market for student loans is subsidized and guaranteed. The House and Senate have enacted separate bills with some common ground, but it remains to be seen just how the final law will impact the cost of a student loan.

Both bills would ease the burden on student by placing limits monthly payments based on income; once out of school, graduates would have to pay no more than 15 percent of their income each month. All debt would be canceled after 25 years. And more loans would be “forgiven” for graduates who take public-service jobs like teachers, nurses, police and firefighters.

The bills also both call for cutbacks in subsidies for lenders that participate in government-backed loan programs. By shaving roughly a half-percentage point from those subsidies, Congress is hoping save as much as $19 billion a year. The government would also require lenders to cover more of the losses from defaulted loans — the House and Senate bills differ on just how much more.

At issue is how and where those savings are diverted. The House bill would slash the rate on need-based loans in half — from the current 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent — and provide additional money for so-called Pell grants, a program that currently pays up to $4,010 a year in direct aid to low-income students. The Senate bill doesn’t include a rate cut, but is more generous with increases in Pell grants.

While the details are yet to be worked out, cuts in loan subsidies will squeeze lenders profits and could make it hard from smaller lenders to compete, according to Sameer Gokhale, an analyst who follow the student loan industry at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

“Most likely is it puts a lot of lenders out of business,” he said.

That could send more students back to the government’s direct lending program, which lost market share to private lenders in the past decade as the volume of student lending has grown. Supporters of expanded direct lending say it would save the government money. Supporters of subsidized private lending say the competition has improved the level of customer service available to borrowers.

For those lenders who remain in business, the profit squeeze also force them to cut back on other incentives, according to Gokhale.

Those incentives include interest rate discounts to students who agree to have their monthly payments debited directly from a bank account. Some lenders also waive the 3 percent loan origination fee or "forgive" the last few monthly payments for students who repay their loan on time.

"A significant chunk of those subsidies used to go back to the student in the form of these borrower benefits," he said. "Because of the nature of these cuts, and because they’re so deep, it almost seems inevitable that borrower benefits would have to be reduced pretty dramatically."

No matter what terms apply under new regulations, many students will still need to borrow from private lenders outside the federally-subsidized programs, which limit how much each student can borrow. With tuition costs continuing to rise faster than those lending caps, many students and families have to make up the difference with an unsubsidized private loan — where interest rates are set by each lender.

That’s why students should borrow as much as they can under federal programs before turning to private lenders, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, a Web site devoted to college financial aid.

“You should focus on federal instead of private loans because federal loans are cheaper,” he said. “And shop around for federal rates; you can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.”

Explosion in high-priced loans could haunt the U.S. economy for years

2007-10-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years.

While scholarship, grant money and government-backed student loans — whose interest rates are capped — have taken up some of the slack, many families and individual students have turned to private loans, which carry fees and interest rates that are often variable and up to 20 percent.

Many in the next generation of workers will be so debt-burdened they will have to delay home purchases, limit vacations, even eat out less to pay loans off on time.
Kristin Cole, 30, who graduated from Michigan State University’s law school and lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., owes $150,000 in private and government-backed student loans. Her monthly payment of $660, which consumes a quarter of her take-home pay, is scheduled to jump to $800 in a year or so, confronting her with stark financial choices.

“I could never buy a house. I can’t travel; I can’t do anything,” she said. “I feel like a prisoner.”

A legal aid worker, Cole said she may need to get a job at a law firm, “doing something that I’m not real dedicated to, just for the sake of being able to live.”

Parents are still the primary source of funds for many students, but the dynamics were radically altered in recent years as tuition costs soared and sources of readily available and more costly private financing made higher education seemingly available to anyone willing to sign a loan application.

Students with no credit history and no relatives to co-sign loans (or co-signing parents with tarnished credit) were willing to bet that high-priced loans were a trade-off for a shot at the American dream. But high-paying jobs are proving elusive for many graduates.

“This is literally a new form of indenture ... something that every American parent should be scared of,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

More than $17 billion in private student loans were issued last year, up from $4 billion a year in 2001. Outstanding student borrowing jumped from $38 billion in 1995 to $85 billion last year, according to experts and lawmakers.

Rocketing tuition fees made borrowing that much more appealing. Consumer prices on average rose less than 29 percent over the past 10 years while tuition, fees, and room and board at four-year public colleges and universities soared 79 percent to $12,796 a year and 65 percent to $30,367 a year at private institutions, according to the College Board.

Scholarship and grant money have increased, yet for almost 15 years, the maximum available per person in government-guaranteed student loans, which by law can’t charge rates above 6.8 percent, has remained at $23,000 total for four years. That’s less than half the average four-year tuition, room and board of $51,000 at public colleges and $121,000 at private institutions.

Sallie Mae, formally known as SLM Corp., has been on the winning side of the loan bonanza. Its portfolio of 10 million customers includes $25 billion in private and $128 billion in government-backed education loans. However, private-equity investors who had offered $25 billion to buy the company backed out last week, citing credit market weakness and a new law cutting billions of dollars in subsidies to student lenders.

Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Wachovia Corp. are also big players in the private student loan business. And there has been an explosion in specialized student loan lenders, such as EduCap, Nelnet Inc., NextStudent Inc., Student Loan Corp., College Loan Corp., CIT Group Inc. and Education Finance Partners Inc.

Student Loan Consolidation from premier-student-loan.com

2007-10-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

After graduation, students are often faced with the financial burden on paying off their student loans. The inability to keep up with student loan payments can seriously harm one’s credit and that’s where student loan consolidation comes to the rescue!

PremierStudentLoan.com is the leading student loan site on the web. Their extensive network for students, graduate students, and parents provides information, articles, and resources to help you make the best decision about your college and financial future.

PremierStudentLoan.com provides you with information in order to access a variety of products including private and federal student loan consolidation programs, scholarship and grants. They also offers free quotes helping you find the best student loan rates and lenders in your area.

Have you determined what college or university you are going to attend? Not sure which majors your top-rated schools have? Need to know the master and doctorate degrees available? Don’t know what schools have online colleges? Find out using their comprehensive School Directory. It allows you to explore details on your dream schools to find your best match. From business schools to private schools and online colleges, they can help.

Private student loans, also known as alternative loans, are typically backed by banks and non-profit organizations instead of the federal government. Private student loans can help with your additional education expenses between federal loans, scholarships, and federal aid. If you are an incoming freshman or a college senior, you are going to run into unexpected expenses such as books, computers and laptops, and private tutors. Private loan is just the answer.

Where To Look for Help of Student Loan Consolidation

2007-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

By: Ian Wilkie

As part of any research when looking at your student loan consolidation information alternatives you need to examine where you are able to research information, despite the high education costs and the cost of borrowing to meet these, students and parents have some advantages today that did not exist even ten years ago, the Internet has changed in many ways for ever the way financial aid is researched and granted.

Today it is a simple task to be able to quickly access and review an enormous amount of information, qualifying criteria, rates, loan limits and much more is easily available, however that also suggests one of the difficulties of easy facts, the possibility of too much data, the old saying in the information technology industry sums it up best, it is like a person drinking from a fire hose, having so much information flooding into their head, especially given the variety and complexity of loan schemes today, this can make examining the information all that much harder, to overcome this difficulty, one element of the old-fashioned methods is still very useful, that is looking for personal advice and guidance.

For many students still in high school, planning a college education and looking at ways to pay for it starts with their school counselor these counselors are there to assist students analyze through the bewildering array of choices, and to point out many of the potential rewards or pitfalls of different options, but alas the quality of that instruction can vary quite considerably.

Professional loan counselors as well as being up on the latest information are required to attend regular courses each year to keep up-to-date and maintain his or her qualified standing, however the downside is that they commonly charge for their services, a few minutes of advice on the telephone or in person is usually free, however any detailed advice or program is always at a cost, this is understandable since that is how they make a living.

The online variants of qualified loan counselors additionally have similar good points and bad points, since there is so much variety on the web today, finding a trustworthy source can be hard, the advantage of a personal strategy, which enables judging their reliability through hearing their voice or viewing their face is missing, nonetheless with social networks and blogs growing in recent years that drawback has largely been outweighed.

It is possible today to view hundreds of reliable recommendations from people you interact with consistently online, when reading comments posted by new forum members it is often hard to judge the potential worth of his or her opinion, nonetheless over a period of time, you can recognize who is providing objective and meaningful information and before long you are able to locate professionals to get more in-depth guidance.

Be certain to allocate at least one year to examine the available options, two years or more would be better, saving for and planning your education should start much earlier, nevertheless getting information that is likely to be effective requires not putting too much weight on situations that will exist a number years from now, interest rates, qualifying criteria and available programs do change over time and who knows, the Internet innovators might come up with something even better in the future, it is essential to keep this information at hand when looking at any student loan consolidation information.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

Ian Wilkie is a published expert author of many Student Loan Consolidation Information articles and owner of - My Student Loan Consolidation Information your one-stop online resource for Student Loan Consolidation Center.

Why Should You Co-sign a Student Loan?

2007-10-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

At the time of researching your student loan consolidation info alternatives you should look at co-signer and no co-signer student loans, as often when the original borrower has poor credit, they ask a secondary party to guarantee to pay for the loan and they are called a co-signer. Many students do not start out with credit accounts and they have never even had a car loan. This causes them to have a very short credit history. Many times our students have made poor decisions in the past with their credit.

They often end up with a balance on their credit card that they can’t repay with monthly payments. Having a poor credit score, or the lack of one will put the hopeful applicant into what is known as a high risk credit category. Loan officers are trained to look for that information in your credit history, even the ones with a federal student aid plan. Loan applications can be denied, or accepted, but with a high interest rate to offset the probability that your loan will go into default.

Co-signers are needed in the event of bad credit or simply having no credit score at all. Generally the co-signer will be the parents of the borrower or other close relative. Bankers will evaluate whether or not to loan you money based on your parent’s credit history, FICO score and debt to income amount. Now, it is up to the parents credit for deciding what the interest percentages will be. Generally those with a poor credit score will have higher interest rates than ones with superior credit ratings. A popular student loan plan shows that with an interest amount of 4% it will cost $5,489 in interest and at 6% it rises to $10,647. A 2% difference doesn’t sound like much, but given contemporary borrowing levels and compounding, such a scenario is not unrealistic.

Students and parents are often financing up to $100,000 for their education. Even if you make the interest payments while the student is in school, so that it doesn’t add to your balance owed, the payment would be $567 at a 6.8% interest rate every month. The interest amounts for the entire year would be about $6,600. Lowering that interest rate to 5% (the official amount for a need-based Perkins loans) reduces those numbers to $417 and $4,820. Remember the example is assuming payments will begin immediately while the student is in school.

If the interest is not deferred or subsidized, waiting to start the payments until you are out of school will cause these numbers to be much higher. Over the length of the loan, a co-signer will help to lower your overall amounts paid in interest by getting a better interest rate than you would have gotten on your own. Many websites have a great calculator for figuring sample situations that might apply to you. The information detail in this article will form an important part of any student consolidation loan information.

Keywords: Student Loan Consolidation Info, Student Consolidation Loan Information, Student Loan Consolidation Information

Catergory: Finance Loans Business Education

Postponing payments - Apply for forbearance - salliemae

2007-07-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

Postponing payments

Understanding forbearance

Forbearance can help you avoid delinquency and default if you're facing temporary financial difficulty.

Forbearance lets you suspend or reduce your payments under certain circumstances and for specified periods of up to one year at a time.

During forbearance, you will receive quarterly interest statements and have the option to pay the accrued interest. If you don't, any unpaid accrued interest will be capitalized.

Eligibility

For detailed information on your forbearance options, to see if you are eligible, and to apply, log in to your Manage Your Loans^SM account. Select Postpone Payments, learn if you're eligible, and apply for forbearance.

Forbearance results in higher loan costs overall. You may want to look into deferment or a different payment plan.

Postponing payments - Request deferment - salliemae

2007-07-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Postponing payments

Understanding deferment

Deferment lets you temporarily suspend making loan payments. You may be granted deferment on your loan for a variety of reasons.

Deferment can be authorized for

economic hardship,
unemployment,
military deployment,
enrollment in school,
internship,
national service, and
similar situations.

You are responsible for paying your education debt even when granted deferment. Deferment is temporary and limited to specified time frames.

If you've already had one deferment, you may be eligible for the same type again. In other cases, you may have exceeded the time limit on a particular deferment and may no longer be eligible to apply for that same type.

Eligible loans

Stafford loans
Parent PLUS loans
Graduate PLUS loans
Federal consolidation loans

For subsidized Stafford loans, the federal government pays the interest during deferment. For unsubsidized loans (including unsubsidized Stafford, Graduate PLUS, and Parent PLUS), the interest accrues and is capitalized, and you are responsible for paying it.

Most private loan deferment eligibility is based on loan type.

Postponing payments - Reducing monthly costs - salliemae

2007-07-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Postponing payments

Reducing monthly costs

You may be having trouble balancing your income and expenses. How you handle daily life—and your student loans—makes a big difference.

See about smaller loan payments

You may find that you have several student loans to repay. Here are two simple ways to lower your monthly loan payments:

If you consolidate those loans, you can pay off your original loans and get one with lower interest.
Consider changing your payment plan to one that lowers your payments.

Be smart about credit and debt

Live within your means and keep your debt level as low as possible.
Be savvy with your credit card: Don't use it as a source of spending money. Pay in cash whenever you can.
See our 10 rules of smart credit management.

Sallie Mae's be debt savvy materials are a wealth of solid money-saving advice.

Plan your new budget

Use College Answer^®’s Monthly Budget Calculator to get the facts about your bottom line.

Think of your budget as a personal spending plan. It's a great way to understand where your money goes and to make sure you don’t buy things you don’t really need.

Paying loans electronically - salliemae

2007-07-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Paying loans electronically

Having trouble remembering the payment due date on your student loan? Always one stamp short? Make things easier on yourself: Pay your student loans by automatic debit or online billing.

Automatic debit

Sallie Mae’s automatic debit is the most convenient way to make your education loan payments on time!

There are no checks to write, no stamps to buy, and no late payments. Your monthly education loan payment is automatically deducted from your checking or savings account.

Loans eligible for the automatic debit benefit

Loans taken through certain Sallie Mae lenders are eligible for the automatic debit interest rate reduction—Direct Repay^SM—and must be owned and serviced by Sallie Mae or owned by Sallie Mae and serviced by a participating servicer.

Your savings through Direct Repay is available on the following loans:

Stafford loans first disbursed through June 30, 2002.
PLUS loans first disbursed through June 30, 2008.
MBA LOANS^® Private Loan^SM (formerly MBA LOANS^® Business Education Loan^SM and Tuition Loan Program [TLP] Loan^SM), LAWLOANS^® Private Loan^SM and Bar Study Loan^® (formerly LAWLOANS^®Law Student Loan^SM), and Signature Student loans^® first disbursed through May 31, 2002.
MEDLOANS Alternative Loan Program (ALP) loans first disbursed April 27, 1999–May 31, 2007.
MEDLOANS MEDEX loans first disbursed July 1, 1995–July 31, 2003.
SMART LOAN^® Accounts applied for before February 1, 1999. Also available on SMART LOAN Accounts disbursed on or after July 1, 2002. To be eligible for this benefit, your initial consolidation balance must be at least $7,500.

Sallie Mae reserves the right to modify or discontinue loan programs at any time without notice. Other terms and conditions apply.

Monthly online billing

With online billing, you can submit a one-time payment, schedule future payments, and receive monthly payment reminders by email. Log in to Manage Your Loans to sign up for online billing on eligible loans.

Upromise Loan Link^SM

Student and parent borrowers who join Upromise^® can link their Sallie Mae^® loan account to their Upromise account and use their Upromise rewards to help pay down their eligible Sallie Mae-serviced student loans.

Upromise members can turn everyday spending into savings for education by shopping with participating companies who contribute a portion of their qualified spending into their Upromise account. Once borrowers become Upromise members, they can invite family and friends to join and contribute their rewards to the borrower’s Upromise account to increase savings. Simply go to www.salliemae.com/
upromise and enroll today.

Cutting costs by prepaying - salliemae

2007-07-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

Cutting costs by prepaying

All federally sponsored education loans and most private loans let you pay off some of your loan—even the entire amount—before payment is due without penalty.

If you have some money left over each month, instead of spending it, why don't you pay down your student loan? This is a sure way to reduce the total cost of the loan.

Any extra payments you make are applied to the principal of the loan, after the accrued interest and any outstanding fees (if applicable) are satisfied. If you reduce your principal—even by a little—you reduce the amount of interest you have to pay over the life of your loan.

Are you thinking of paying off your loan entirely?

Learn the full balance (accounting for all accrued interest) from Manage Your Loans^SM first.

Submitting extra payments is easy

Just log in to your Manage Your Loans^SM account to make one-time payments, schedule future payments, or learn your balance.

Pay down your loan with Upromise

Another way to pay down your loan is through Upromise Loan Link^SM. When you join Upromise^® you can link your Sallie Mae^® loan account to your Upromise account and use your Upromise rewards to help pay down your eligible Sallie Mae-serviced student loans. Enroll today at www.salliemae.com/upromise.

Choosing a repayment plan - salliemae

2007-07-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Choosing a repayment plan

When you start making payments on a new student loan, you're automatically signed up for standard repayment. But you can choose other payment options.

See which repayment option best meets your needs.

Standard repayment

Principal and interest payments are due each month throughout the loan repayment term.

Graduated repayment

Payments are lower at the beginning of repayment and step up at specified periods and in specified amounts over the term of the loan.

Income-sensitive repayment

Monthly payments are based on a percentage of the borrower's monthly income for Stafford, PLUS, and SMART LOAN^® (federal consolidation) borrowers.

Extended repayment

Eligible borrowers receive payment relief through a lengthened repayment term of up to 25 years.

Student loan consolidation

Student loan consolidation is an important debt management tool that allows borrowers to bundle existing loans into one new loan, providing both convenience and lower monthly payments. There are two types of student loan consolidation: federal student loan consolidation and private student loan consolidation.

Serialization

Sallie Mae purchases a borrower's loans held by other Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) lenders or institutions and services them in one account with the borrower's other Sallie Mae-owned loans. Borrowers make one monthly payment and retain the original terms and interest rates on their loans.

Use Manage Your Loans^SM to review your account, keep your personal information current, make payments, and more. Get more information from your account—log in today.

salliemae-Estimating monthly payments

2007-07-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Estimating monthly payments

Do you want to lower the monthly payments on your loans? Or are you more interested in keeping your interest payments down?

Monthly payments

How you choose to pay back your student loan will affect how much you pay each month and how much you pay over the life of your loan. The repayment plan you choose matters.

Use Sallie Mae^®'s Loan repayment calculator to find out how much your monthly payments and interest could be under different repayment plans.

This calculator estimates repayment amounts for Stafford and PLUS loans that have not been consolidated.

To estimate payments under a federal consolidation loan, use Sallie Mae’s Loan consolidation calculator.