Inside Higher Education published a great piece on understanding “financial aid speak” from college financial aid offices. To the average parent, it can feel like college financial aid representatives are speaking a whole different language.
On Wednesday, July 31, 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives gave final passage to a compromised bill for student loan interest rates and the president is expected to sign. For new student loans made since July 1, 2013, the new rates for this year will be: 3.86 percent for undergraduate Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans […]
The good news? The government has finally come to an agreement on student loan interest rates and agreed to lower rates through the 2015 academic year.
The bad news?After 2015, rates would likely climb higher than they were this past spring.
As student loan debt tops $1 trillion dollars, the outcry to reduce student loan interest rates and help those already in debt grows stronger. In this video from Politico, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) offers his take on the high cost of college, society’s view of higher education, and the impact of student debt on the economy. […]
Today, the Senate failed once again to implement a one-year, retroactive fix that would keep rates at 3.4 percent on federal subsidized Stafford loans made from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014. Lawmakers have been debating various proposals to lower student rates but have neglected to come to an agreement.
This commentary from the NY Post sums up the real way Congress has failed students perfectly. The problem is not just that Congress has hurt students by failing to keep student loan interest rates from doubling to 6.8%. It’s that they have done nothing to prevent college costs from skyrocketing. The real problem: college affordability […]
Funding for federal student aid programs was first authorized in the 1960s and 1970s and has increased dramatically to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of college. Yet, despite this increased aid, negative patterns of inequalities in college attendance, low completion rates, and high student debt continue. It’s become clear that a new approach might be needed: one that focuses on college affordability and access.
In this insightful article from the Star-Tribune, writer Chris Farrell compares current student loan borrowers to the pilgrims that settled in Plymouth Bay in 1620. These pilgrims were backed by London merchant bankers and eventually bought out their investors, paying off their debt in installments. Student debt is good debt Farrell argues that, as just as the […]
Government representatives have recently made several proposals to prevent the interest rates on federal subsidized Stafford student loans from doubling to 6.8% on July 1. But it turns out that letting the rate double might be a better alternative than some of the latest proposals in Congress, according to a recent Huffington Post article. Student […]
With the cost of college skyrocketing over the past 30 years, taking out student loans has become a necessary evil for many students to attend college. The problem is, many borrowers don’t fully understand the terms of the loans they are taking out or what repayment is really like–until graduation hits and they’re faced with an expensive student loan bill every month.
In this insightful video from The Field, real college students share their thoughts about their student debt, why they took out student loans, and how they plan on repaying their debt in the future.