So we’re stuck with a student loan debt of $1 trillion & growing, interest rates for federal loans are about to double if Congress doesn’t do something and private student lenders are getting out of the market. But that doesn’t mean student loans should be avoided altogether. They do help in getting a shot at… Read more »
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Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t
So we have your typical private lender that charges expensive interest rates for a student loan. These types don’t care much about you and only want you to take out as many loans as you can. More loans equal more profit for them, especially since you can’t discharge student loans with bankruptcy and you don’t… Read more »
UTEP Offers “Rebates” To Help Ease Impact of Pell Grant Cut
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has recently implemented a new rebate program where summer class enrollees will receive rebates amounting to a couple hundred dollars when the fall semester comes rolling around the corner. The rebates start at $104 for students taking more than six credit hours during the summer term. This… Read more »
What People Conveniently Forget About Affordable College?
Sure, nobody can take your education away from you once you attain that degree. But when you stop and think about the loans you have to pay off, you can’t help but fear missing out on payments and defaulting on your student loans. This is especially so when you’re a fresh graduate tens of thousands… Read more »
How Do “Dumb Jocks” Get Into College?
College is supposed to be where students learn the skills they need to be successful in life, but is it worth attending a college that passes an obviously failing jock just because he (or she) is good at sports? Take the case of Dasmine Cathey for example. He entered the University of Memphis as a… Read more »
Lessons on Student Loans We Can Learn from the Subprime Mortgaging Fiasco
First we were shown glittering promises of owning homes at really low to non-existent interest rates without being told that payments would skyrocket in a few short years; effectively forcing many starry-eyed homeowners to foreclose on their homes when the inevitable came. But the problem wasn’t confined to just a few dozen households. Entire financial… Read more »
College Aid: Does It Help You or the College Corporations?
Washington spends about $65 billion each year on student aid. This would be a good thing if that aid goes to students; furthering their education and helping them establish a career for the future. But the question now is where exactly does that student aid go and how is it used? One reason student aid… Read more »
Full Disclosure: The Real Costs of an Education
For-profit colleges are notorious for not being open about “the real costs of attendance” and how the complex machinations of student loans really work out in both the short and long-term. What makes it all completely difficult is how opaque both colleges and private student loan providers are about what you’re potentially getting into. Especially… Read more »
No More Pell Grants for Hundreds of Thousands of Students
Effective July 1, Pell Grants will either be reduced or completely eliminated for students who have no high school diploma, no General Education Development (GED) certificate or have spent more than six years in college. Stricter income requirements make obtaining Pell Grants even more difficult. The estimated casualty count: an estimated 300,000 or so American… Read more »
Moving Abroad to Pay Off – Not Escape From – Student Loans
Student loans can be an extremely difficult matter to deal with, especially if you were duped into taking out tens of thousands of dollars you really didn’t need and ended up with a job flipping burgers instead of that career position you were promised when you first enrolled. So it is easy to see just… Read more »