student aid

Eric Gjerde

If You Plan To Go To College Next Year, Fill Out Your FAFSA This Weekend

Each year high school graduates preparing for college leave billions of dollars on the table by failing to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). A new initiative by the Department of Education aims to change that this year, by starting the process earlier and making it easier to fill out. So here’s your warning: FAFSA season starts Saturday.  [More]

Corinthian Colleges Allegedly Recruited Homeless Students, Advertised Non-Existent Programs

Corinthian Colleges Allegedly Recruited Homeless Students, Advertised Non-Existent Programs

Just when you think the accusations levied against now-defunct for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges couldn’t get worse — inflating job placement rates, grade manipulation, and questionable marketing practices — they do. The California Attorney General’s office filed thousands of pages of documents and testimony as part of its ongoing lawsuit against the school highlighting an even more egregious practice: allegedly recruiting homeless students and assisting them in taking out thousands of dollars in loans they could never repay.  [More]

California Halts Grants For Students At Corinthian’s Heald College Campuses

California Halts Grants For Students At Corinthian’s Heald College Campuses

Nearly 4,500 students at California campuses of the for-profit Heald College chain — operated by the beleaguered Corinthian Colleges, Inc. —  have been notified they won’t be receiving state grants to help finance their education  because school administrators failed to provide financial statements to state regulators.
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FAFSA To Get Dramatically Shorter, Less Painful

FAFSA To Get Dramatically Shorter, Less Painful

The Department of Education has announced that the FAFSA, considered (by me) to suck worse than any form ever, is getting shorter and less painful. Most importantly for those of you who have procrastination-prone parents that just don’t enjoy filling out forms (me, again), the FAFSA will allow students applying for financial aid in the spring semester of 2010 to “seamlessly retrieve their relevant tax information from the IRS for easy completion.”