Banks love graduation almost as much as parents. You’re finally on your own, able to afford food, rent, and beer, so why shouldn’t the banks—the kind, selfless banks that let you save while you slaved for knowledge—now sink their teeth into your anorexic accounts for a hearty bite of their own? FiLife compiled an excellent list of bank policies so students know how their institution plans to celebrate their impending graduation.
students
By 1.18.08
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Now that SallieMae buy-out deal has crumbled and they’re facing much higher borrowing costs due to the subprime fiasco, the unpopular student lender will shed 3% of its workforce, or 350 jobs, mostly CSRs at their call centers.
Helpful Website For Student Loan Borrowers
By 11.21.07
The National Consumer Law Center and the Project on Student Debt have launched a joint website that offerers information for student borrowers who are behind on their loans, or those who just want to learn more about their options.
Help Me Get A Credit Card For Christmas
By 11.15.07
“I am 19, and have never owned a credit card, only debit cards. I have had a 47.50 (or so) debt in the past due to a large overdue fine to a Hollywood Video. I took my sweet time in paying that off and now after one credit card refusal, I expect that it has damaged my otherwise non-existent (to my knowledge) credit score, which (if I understand things right) puts me in a heck of a hole. How do I get out of it? I’m assuming that not building any credit, then going into debt just messed me up and I need to know how to get things right, but if I can’t get a card, how can I get good credit? This is a really unpleasant situation, especially with Christmas coming around.
Ohio Attorney General Sues Credit Card Marketers Over Ohio State "Free Burrito" Event
By 9.24.07
Ohio Attorney General, Mark Dunn, is suing Citibank-affiliated credit card marketers for violating Ohio’s consumer protection laws during a “Free Burrito” event at Ohio State University.
IRS Reminds You To Keep Your Education Related Receipts
By 9.11.07
When you’re cleaning out your purse or wallet this week, make sure to save your education related receipts because, depending on your situation, you may be eligible for some spiffy tax breaks in April.
Citibank Recruits Students To Become "Credit Card Pushers"
By 9.10.07
BusinessWeek has been examining one of the fastest-growing segments of credit card debtors, college students. Last week, they profiled a young man from the University of Pittsburgh who was recruited by a Citibank rep, at his university’s student union building, to get other students to apply for credit cards with free t-shirts and lines like “Even if you apply, you can always cut up the card,” and “It’s easy to pay off your balance once you graduate and get a great job.” For every completed application, he’d receive $5-10, and probably a tiny dark spot on his soul.
Try Not To Light Yourself On Fire Once You Get To College
By 8.31.07
According to Consumer Reports’ Blog, the number of fires in campus housing has risen dramatically over the past few years—from 1,800 fires in 1998 to 3,000 fires in 2005.
Department Of Education: Student Loan Oversight Is Overrated
By 8.3.07
Remember that whole student loan scandal, where lenders illegally gave gifts to financial aid officers? The Department of Education doesn’t! A damning GAO report claims that the DOE:
Colleges Charging Different Tuition Rates Based on Your Major
By 7.30.07
Some state colleges and universities have started charging different undergraduate tuition rates depending on what the student decides to major in. Business majors at the University of Wisconsin pay $500 more each semester than do their liberal arts peers. Graduate schools have been doing this for years: Law school and med school tuition tends to be more per term than, say, an advanced degree in comparative literature. But is it fair?
Private Student Loans Are Potentially Evil
By 6.12.07
The New York Times has an article explaining some of the reasons that private loans are both more popular and more risky that they really ought to be.
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.
Universities Get Commissions For Credit Cards Sold On Campus
By 4.11.07
This CNN report shows how universities are cutting lucrative deals to let credit card marketers push their wares on campus. Schools will get commissions based on signups, or even based on the amount students charge on their new cards.
MPAA's Most Wanted: MPAA Compiles List Of Top 25 "Pirate" Universities
By 4.2.07
It wasn’t too long ago that the RIAA compiled their list of the universities most infested by alleged music pirates, and now it seems the MPAA is following suit. The RIAA used their list to target universities, sending threatening letters to the school’s administration, insisting that they forward “settlement letters” to students who matched IP addresses the record companies had harvested from P2P sharing programs. Now the MPAA has a list of its own, compiled at the request of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Read the list inside…
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.
Free NYT for Students, Teachers
By 3.13.07
“It’s part of our journalistic mission to get people talking on campuses,” says Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and general manager at NYTimes.com. “We wanted to open that up so that college students and professors can have a dialogue.”
It’s now part of our journalistic mission to pretend we’re still in college. —MEGHANN MARCO
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.
Undergrad Credit: Jobless Students Go High APR Calypso
By 5.15.06
Why is it that some snot nosed punk can get over $5 million in credit upon being accepted to college but I, a grown adult, can’t get my credit limit raised by a few hundred bucks to fit a Macbook Pro into the slim wedge of non-debt still imbued into my Hustler Store credit card? Ten years of paying my credit card off only when I happen to remember is probably the answer. The sort of muffed financial sense that makes it all the more absurd that I work for an irreverent consumerist blog.
