Two-term presidential hopeful Barack Obama is campaigning strongly for student loan interest rates to stay at the current 3.4% instead of letting it shoot up to its old rate of 6.8%. At least for one year, according to the White House. This proposal is indeed a welcome one for students [...]
The total outstanding student debt flew past $1 trillion last year; making student debt an even bigger issue than credit card debt. And now students are looking at their interest payments double. A 2007 law lowered Stafford loan interest rates from 6.8% to 3.4% – half the original rates. The [...]
If you find yourself in a situation where you have trouble repaying your student loan(s), you might qualify for a deferment, forbearance, or other form of payment relief. For instance, you may be able to get a deferment if you can prove economic hardship, are returning to school, are unemployed, [...]
If you have Stafford, PLUS, or Perkins loans, you can consolidate them together after you graduate into one single loan from a single lender, which is then used to pay off the balances on the other loans. The primary benefit of consolidation is simplified payments. Rather than five, ten, or more [...]
When it comes time to start repaying your student loan(s), you can select a repayment plan that best suits your financial situation. Currently there are six (6) primary student loan repayment options available. With the majority of student loan programs now consolidated under the federal umbrella, changes in repayment options, [...]
Income-Based Repayment is a plan that can substantially lower the amount you must pay each month on your federal student loans. It does this by capping the monthly payments at 15% based on your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and family size.1 IBR uses a kind of sliding formula to determine [...]
According to FinAid, Graduate and Professional Student PLUS (Grad PLUS) Loan operates in similar fashion to the parent PLUS Loan – as a low-cost supplement to borrow. The same terms and conditions applicable to PLUS Loans for parents also apply to PLUS Loans for graduate and professional students: a fixed [...]
Parents of dependent students1 may apply for a unsubsidized Direct PLUS Loan to help pay their child’s education expenses as long as certain eligibility requirements are met. Here, the parents are responsible for repayment on the loan, not the student. A Parent PLUS Loan, often referred to as “financial aid [...]
The Direct Stafford Loan is the biggest source of low-interest loans for college-bound students who demonstrate financial need. In fact, nearly all students are eligible to receive Stafford loans regardless of credit. These loans come in two flavors: either subsidized or unsubsidized. “Subsidized” means that the interest is paid by [...]
A federal Perkins loan is a subsidized loan for undergraduate and graduate students with “exceptional” financial need – regardless of income level or credit history. Unlike the Stafford loan and Parent PLUS loan, the Federal Perkins Loan is one of the three campus-based financial aid programs – that is, the [...]