The clock is ticking on the June 30 deadline for Congress to agree on a way to extend subsidies for federal Stafford student loans that would keep the interest rates from doubling to 6.8%. Now Speaker of the House John Boehner has said lawmakers are tantalizingly close to coming to an accord on the matter. [More]
student loans
Father Stuck With Dead Son’s Student Loans But No One Will Tell Him How Much He Owes
By 6.14.12
While federal student loans are forgiven if the student dies before the money is repaid, lenders of private student loans can choose to forgive the debt or go after a co-signer for the money. And just like mortgages, private student loans are bundled and re-sold again and again, leaving some parents struggling to figure out how much they owe on their deceased child’s student loan — all while being hounded by debt collectors. [More]
Show Us How Much You Owe On Your Student Loan
By 6.8.12
On July 1, interest rates on federal Stafford student loans are set to double from 3.4% to 6.8%, and lots of lawmakers in Washington seem to agree that the rates need to remain low, they can’t come an agreement on how to pay for it, meaning millions of students could be caught in the crossfire — and millions more could be added to the spreading ocean of student debt. [More]
Lawmakers Suddenly Care About Those Fee-Laden College Cards That Are Now In The News
By 5.30.12
Earlier today, we told you about the U.S. Public Interest Research Group report on how the growing number of ethically questionable partnerships between U.S. colleges and financial institutions was resulting in millions of college students being pushed toward receiving their financial aid payments on cards costing hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to users each year. The study appears to have gotten the attention of some folks in Washington. [More]
Millions Of College Students Pushed Into Receiving Financial Aid On Fee-Laden Cards
By 5.30.12 — Updated: 1.31.13
The cost of a college education continues to rise at the same time as many schools seek to trim their budgets. This means that a growing number of colleges are turning to financial institutions to handle the distribution of student aid. And that means that students all around the country are receiving their financial aid on cards that end up making money for the bank. [More]
Law Dropout Debilitated By Asperger Syndrome Gets $339,361 In Student Loans Forgiven
By 5.24.12
College debt is one of the few debts that can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, unless you have a really, really good reason. You pretty much have to be dead or have a debilitating disability that keeps you from working. So it caught the attention of the National Law Journal when a Maryland woman in her 60s had $339,361 in college debt discharged in bankruptcy court earlier this month. [More]
Sallie Mae Opts Not To Go After Family Of Dead Woman For $120K In Student Loans
By 5.14.12
As we wrote last week, while many parents consider it a no-brainer to co-sign their children’s student loans, that decision can come back to bite them later. And if that child passes away, there’s little stopping loan servicers from piling debt on the parents’ grief. But here’s one story where Sallie Mae ultimately opted to not go that route. [More]
Aspiring Nun Has Too Much Student Debt To Take Vow Of Poverty
By 5.14.12
In news stories about the student debt crisis, we hear about American young adults delaying the typical milestones of adulthood due to their student loans. They (well, we) postpone marriage, childbearing, and purchasing first homes. But what if you’re interested in a holier, more altruistic path? Men and women who want to join Catholic religious life must be debt-free before they even think about making their vows, and that’s a challenge for people who don’t realize their calling until after they’ve taken on student debt in the mid-five figures. [More]
Why Private Student Loans Are A Dangerous Game
By 5.10.12
Co-signing a younger relative’s private student loans doesn’t seem like such a reckless idea. After all, it’s an investment in their education and careers, they’ll certainly be able to pay it all back once they’re educated, and they’re going to outlive you, anyway. That’s not always the case, and the risks can be substantial. Jessica’s best friend had her grandfather, now 80 years old, co-sign her private loans with Citibank. After her sudden and shocking death, now he’s on the hook for $70,000. [More]
Key Finally Decides Not To Make Family Pay Dead Student's College Loans
By 4.27.12
When a person dies and their estate is settled, any remaining debt dies with them, including student loans. But there’s an exception: if a parent or other responsible grown-up co-signs a loan and the borrower dies a tragic young death, that co-signer is on the hook for the entire amount of the loan. That’s how co-signing works, after all. But after a Rutgers student died in 2006 after two years in a coma, most of his lenders (credit cards and student loans) deferred, then forgave his debts. Key Bank was the holdout, since the student’s father had co-signed his college loans at Key. Since 2006, the family has paid $20,000 of the $50,000 balance. It took an awful lot of negative publicity, but Key says that they will forgive the debt, and might not even put future families in the same terrible situation. [More]
Effort To Keep Student Loan Interest Rates Low Gains Bipartisan Support
By 4.24.12
Yesterday, presumed Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney mentioned his support for extending the current cap on interest rates for federal Stafford student loans, meaning that this is one issue both candidates appear to agree on. The question is, can something be done before those interest rates double in July? [More]
Law Would Forbid Colleges From Using Federal Money For Advertising
By 4.18.12
The nation’s 15 largest for-profit colleges get nearly 90% of their annual revenue from federal aid programs for students. New legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate today would prevent any of that money being used on advertising, marketing and recruitment. [More]
130,000 Students Petition Congress To Not Double Interest Rates On Stafford Loans
By 3.13.12
While interest rates on federal Stafford loans have stepped down over the last several years from 6.8% in 2007 to 3.4% for the current school year, that number is set to bounce all the way back up to 6.8% on July 1, leading 130,000 students to deliver letters to lawmakers in protest. [More]
Got A Student Loan Complaint? Take It To The CFPB
By 3.6.12
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened up its latest portal for American consumers to register their complaints with various types of lenders. Now people with issues regarding their federal or private student loans have a place to connect — and hopefully reach some sort of resolution. [More]
5 Student Loan Terms To Learn
By 2.13.12
The process of applying for student loans, using them and eventually paying them back can be a decades-long class that teaches you a plethora of difficult lessons about personal finance. One of your first quizzes is something of a vocabulary test when you’re trying to wrap your head around what the terms mean. [More]
Have A Private Student Loan Horror Story? Today Is The Last Day To Tell The CFPB
By 1.17.12
We see enough horror stories about private student loans that we know there must be quite a few of them out there. If you’d like to contribute to the public good by sharing your experience, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would like to hear what you have to say. And if you actually had a good experience the CFPB would like to hear about that, too. [More]
A College Financial Aid Primer
By 1.9.12
Students need to call upon several sources to cover the massive expenses college drops on them. Unless they’re independently wealthy or have a large college fund set up for them, they’ll scramble to come up with the funds to pay for tuition, fees, books and living expenses. [More]
Average Student Loan Balance For New Grads Is More Than $25K
By 11.3.11
If college sent you into the real world last year saddled with $10,000 in student loan debt, take solace in the realization that there is someone out there who owes $40,000 in order to average things out. A newly released study found that the average balance of a student who took out loans and graduated in 2010 was $25,250 — a 5 percent increase from the previous year. [More]
