Tag: federal student loans


Have a student loan with Sallie Mae? Be very afraid.

Posted on October 31st, 2013

Repaying your student loans shouldn’t be scary.

Unfortunately, the shady practices of some student loan servicers have got us spooked.

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How I paid back my student loans

Posted on October 22nd, 2013

"I took a really positive look at it. I knew that it was something I'd have to think about for the next 10-15 years of my life. Setting that reality has really helped me down the line." -- Julia of SaltMoney.org

Depending how you look at it, repaying your student loans can be a positive or a negative experience. Once Julia of SaltMoney.Org took a positive outlook and accepted her student debt as a part of her life, it became much easier to pay it off. In the video below, Julia explains how she built her student loan repayment […]

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What you need to know about student loan forgiveness

Posted on October 3rd, 2013

Planning on entering public service after college so you can have your student loans forgiven? It’s more complicated than you think.

Think about how often you change your mind. There’s no way to be completely certain that your plans won’t change sometime in the next four years–or in the ten years you have to commit to a public service position in order to be eligible for student loan forgiveness.

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8 tips for taking out student loans

Posted on September 26th, 2013

Are you planning on taking out student loans to pay for college? It’s important to have a plan in place before taking on too much student debt. Remember, unlike other forms of debt, student loans can’t be discharged if you declare bankruptcy.

When choosing a college, it’s important to keep future student debt in mind. Forbes advises that students should keep college debt below their expected first year’s salary. While this may seem impossible given the rising cost of college, it demonstrates the need to be diligent in your college search to find a school that offers significant financial aid while providing a quality education.

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Top 3 student loan myths

Posted on September 20th, 2013

Should you pay down your student debt slowly to receive tax breaks for more years? Can you file for bankruptcy if you can’t pay your student loans?

This informative video will help clear up some of your confusion about student loans.

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American higher education’s “dirty little secret”

Posted on September 4th, 2013

"The dirty secret of American higher education is that student-loan interest rates are almost irrelevant. It’s not the cost of the loan that’s the problem, it’s the principal — the appallingly high tuition costs that have been soaring at two to three times the rate of inflation, an irrational upward trajectory eerily reminiscent of skyrocketing housing prices in the years before 2008." -- Matt Taibbi

President Obama’s recent signing of the bill to keep student loan interest rates low is a move in the right direction toward helping students afford college. But as we’ve discussed, it’s not enough. In the video below from Democracy Now, Rolling Stone editor Matt Taibbi discusses how the high price of U.S. college tuition is the real […]

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President Obama’s College Affordability Plan

Posted on August 24th, 2013

In his recent trip to nearby Buffalo, Syracuse, and Binghamton, President Obama revealed his new plan to make college more affordable.

This handy infographic from the White House explains the major reforms and initiatives the President hopes to advance in order to hold colleges accountable for providing a quality education, encourage schools to use technology to cut costs, and make it easier for borrowers to repay their student loans.

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President Obama unveils plan on college affordability

Posted on August 22nd, 2013

"Whether we're talking about a 2-year program, a 4-year program, a technical certificate, the bottom line is that higher education cannot be a luxury. It's an economic imperative. Every American family should be able to afford to get it." -- President Obama

In his visit to Western New York today, President Obama unveiled a series of higher education reforms aimed at making college more affordable. A new way of ranking colleges His ideas include creating a new rating system for colleges that would judge schools on measures like tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings of graduates, and […]

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A breakdown of the new student loan law

Posted on August 16th, 2013

On Wednesday, July 31, 2013, the U.S. House gave final passage to a compromised bill for student loan interest rates. The president signed it into law on August 9, 2013.

For new student loans made since July 1, 2013, the new rates for this year will be 3.86% fixed for undergraduate Direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans, 5.41% fixed for Graduate Direct unsubsidized loans and 6.41% fixed for Direct PLUS loans. This is significantly less than borrowers would be paying if a deal hadn’t been brokered.

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6 things you should know about the new student loan rates

Posted on August 14th, 2013

On August 9, President Obama signed into law the student loan deal that lowers rates on new federal student loans. There’s still more work to be done to make college more accessible and affordable for students, but it’s a start.

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