In 2005 congress changed the law to exclude student loans (private or public) from bankruptcy protection, meaning that it is almost impossible to discharge your student loan by filing for bankruptcy.
Education
Cuomo Goes After Student Lending Criteria, Is So Not Bored Of This Investigation Yet
By 6.7.07
What criteria do student loan companies use when determining which students to give loans to and how much to give? Don’t know? Neither does New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but we’re pretty sure he’s going to find out. From the NYT:
“What criteria are they using in the underwriting of these loans?” Mr. Cuomo asked. “Parental income? Student income? Student creditworthiness? How about the school you attend? How is that weighted?”
Department Of Education Busts Student Loan Party Once And For All
By 6.2.07
Columbia University Settles With NY Attorney General
By 6.1.07
The New York Times is reporting that Columbia University will pay $1.1 million into a fund to educate students about loans, and will have its student loan office monitored by the state of New York for 5 years under the terms of a settlement that NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 5.23.07
Life as a Boomerang Kid [Kiplinger’s] “Dirt-cheap housing. Home-cooked meals. A full-time housekeeper. The catch: sleeping in your old room.”
Student Loan Advice For New Graduates
By 5.17.07
Graduation is coming and soon you will need to pay back your Student Loans. Thankfully for you, Make Your Nut has compiled a lengthly post full of advice for you new grads.
Shop Around for Student Loans
By 5.2.07
With the recent fallout about educational institutions accepting all matter of filthy payola in exchange for letting private lenders get exclusive access to students, it’s apparent borrowers need to take Student Loan Shopping 1000. NYT goes into how you can look for a better deal:
Sallie Mae To Be Sold To JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America
By 4.16.07
… Currently, the company is carrying $142 billion in private and guaranteed loans on its books, about 27 percent of American student loans in the United States.
Student Lending Investigation Could Lead To Criminal Charges
By 4.11.07
An investigation into student lending practices by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo could lead to criminal charges being filed, he says.
College Officials Profited By Selling Stock In Lending Companies They Recommended To Students
By 4.5.07
The financial aid directors at Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California profited from selling stocks in a student loan company on the “preferred lender list” at each of the universities.
Universities Settle Allegations Of Citibank Kickbacks For Student Loan Referrals
By 4.3.07
Eight universities agreed to stop accepting kickbacks from Citibank for private loan referrals, and five agreed to refund a total of $3.27 mil to thousands of students, following an investigation by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (pictured).
Sallie Mae Is Still Ruining Your Life!
By 3.27.07
The FDSL just sent me a loan cancellation letter. They have decided that they will only take federal loans now to consolidate and Sallie Mae is primarily a private lender, and that is what they report my loan as. What the difference between a federal guaranteed loan and what they consider a federal loan through a private company is beyond me.
FAFSA4caster To Help High School Juniors Predict Aid Package
By 3.26.07
The Department of Education has unveiled FAFSA4caster, an online tool to help high school juniors predict their eligibility for college aid. The tool was developed in response to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education’s calls for a faster, more streamlined college aid application process.
Lawsuit: US Department Of Education Overcharging On Student Loans?
By 3.20.07
Has the US Department of Education been unfairly overcharging millions of Americans despite “repeated warnings that it was breaking the law?” According to a lawsuit filed yesterday, the Department of Education may have some explaining to do.
New York Takes Deeper Look Into Student Lending
By 3.1.07
Concerned that guidance offered to students is tainted by conflicts of interests, Cuomo’s office asks schools to disclose if there are financial relationships with lenders and if any favors were offered to individual financial aid officers.
Help Sallie Mae is Ruining My Life!
By 2.15.07
I was hoping that I could get my interest rate down and also my monthly payments down considerably. Not a chance. They even get belligerent if you dare trying to make payment arrangements. I even tried to send $600 one month hoping they would take it in good faith and they just sent it back. It’s either payment in full, or nothing so they can charge you late fees.
Does anyone out there have some advice for this guy? .—MEGHANN MARCO
Borrowed Time for Student Loans?
By 2.6.07
Ever since the Democrats took control of Congress last fall, investors have worried that the government might start trimming the largesse it gives educational lenders such as Sallie Mae. On Jan. 17, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would trim rates on need-based subsidized federal student loans by 50% over five years. The Senate has yet to move on the measure, but President Bush weighed in Feb. 5 with a proposed 2008 budget that aims to bolster grant funds, partly with a huge cut for federal loan subsidies. Stunned Wall Street players quickly unloaded shares of lenders such as Sallie Mae.
BusinessWeek suggests the cuts might be so deep that private lenders would stop issuing student loans altogether. An analyst at Morningstar says:
1,000,000-plus Students’ Personal Data Lost in Texas
By 6.2.06
Poof. The records of over a million customers at Texas A&M’s largest student loan provider have been lost. The records contained personal information about the borrowers.
