College students can rest a little easier tonight knowing that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is looking out for them. On September ninth, eight student loan companies signed an agreement to abide by stricter marketing standards. Seven of those companies, Campus Door, EduCap, GMAC Bank, Graduate Loan Associates, Nelnet, NextStudent and Xanthus Financial Service, were a targeted by an investigation led by Cuomo to examine student lending practices. The eighth company, My Rich Uncle, thought that the guidelines were a great idea and volunteered to hold their company to the same standards.

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Tags: Financial Aid by Nathan
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One of the most well-respected resources in the world of online education, GetEducated.com, is offering a $1000 scholarship to students currently enrolled in an online degree program. To qualify, you must also be an American citizen with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.

For an application, go to their website (link) and download an application…then print it out and mail it to them (provided you still remember what that means).

Tags: Financial Aid, Online Education by editor
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Previous iterations of the G.I. Bill have encouraged millions of veterans to pursue higher education. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act aims to replicate their success.

On June 30th, the President signed into law the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, which attempts to replicate the success of the two previous G.I. Bills in encouraging veteran enrollment in institutions of higher learning. However, much has changed in the landscape of higher education in the 64 years since the original G.I. bill was passed—namely, the proliferation of distance and online learning.

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Tags: Financial Aid, Non-Traditional Students, Online Education by editor
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For many students, student loans are an inescapable part of being a student. The cost of higher education is rising, and even though some schools are taking steps to reduce the cost of education, the fact remains that education is much more expensive today than it was a decade ago.

And college debt statistics are scary – according to a recent College Board study, 20% of graduates will not be able to make any payments on the average amount of undergrad loan debt of $20,000. So, one of the most important questions students can ask themselves before applying for any loan or any school is – how can I limit my debt?

First, students should educate themselves about the many options for funding which are available to them besides loans, which always have to be paid back (with interest!). There are literally thousands of grants and scholarships available to students of all backgrounds and interests, and none of them require the students to ever pay them back!

Many students do not take the time to apply for these loans and scholarships because they think they won’t qualify due to income requirements, grades or factors like ethnicity or sex. However, the fact that most students don’t bother to research scholarships and loans means the pool of applicants is much smaller than it should be! What’s more, there are scholarships and grants which are completely based upon academics, not income, so virtually every student has a shot at them. Many students find that a combination of grants and scholarships can leave them with a small amount of money to borrow, which means a much smaller debt amount upon graduation.

Another great option for many students is “work-study.” This means that students work a certain number of hours per week in exchange for funding for their education. Some students paying for their own college education simply choose to work while they study; even ten hours of work per week can add up to $2500 per year or more, which can substantially reduce costs, and many students work much more during the year and even more during the summer. There are also loan-forgiveness programs available for certain majors such as education and nursing. Students who decide to teach in low-income districts are assisted with paying back their loans.

Finally, students are advised to not get trapped in to signing up for low-interest credit cards. While it’s a great idea to begin developing credit when you are young, too many students get carried away with credit card spending and then are strapped with extremely high interest rates they cannot afford to pay. Loan consolidation is always a good way to try to reduce payment amounts, and students can look into this option while they are still in college to try to lock in low rates.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid by Jenny
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The Campaign for Learning joined the professional services firm KPMG to conduct a survey to determine how both providers and consumers of distance learning feel about it. Individual learners, providers of online learning and organizational users of e-Learning were all surveyed. Overall most people appeared to have a positive experience with online learning experiences. In this study, 86% reported that their online learning experiences have been positive, though a little over 50% also said that they have had some negative experiences as well. The Director of the Campaign for Learning and Information was quoted as saying that “E-learning evidently offers a wealth of potential for increasing participation and motivation, and current users appear to be making great use of it at work and at home.”

The survey provided a host of percentages and comparisons. It found that even though most of the e-learners learned at work, nearly 30% of them reported that they studied from home. Additionally, virtually everyone in the study (about 96%) reported that they wanted support for their studies, which could stem from the fact that, at least in this study, a full third of the employers reported that they do not offer support for employees pursuing e-Learning. However, a third of employers do not offer support for employees studying via distance learning. Interestingly, 40% of employers did not know how many of their own employees were taking e-Learning courses.

60% of e-learners surveyed reported that they believed it was possible to learn as effectively through online learning as other means. About 30% of individual learners thought their employers used e-Learning to make them undertake learning in their own time.

More than half of employers who took part said the proportion of their training budgets being spent on e-Learning initiatives was increasing. Just under half (46%) of employers said they believed e-Learning was more cost-effective than traditional methods.
The study also found that a common theme among employers’ responses was that e-learning was beneficial because it could be tapped into at the workplace, which meant that employees did not have to take off of work. This is an interesting reaction because it suggests that while employers do want their employees to further their skills and education, they would be happier if the learning did not affect their work productivity. If employees could use specified times of the day as “learning time,” and then go back to work, the overall productivity would not be affected.

Individuals believed that the main benefits of e-Learning were its convenience, its quick access to information and being allowed to work at their own pace. On the flip side, though, one of the biggest disadvantages of distance and online learning environments is that it is easy to waste time. The most successful students of online and distance learning programs are highly organized, have excellent time management skills and who set aside specific time to study and specific time to do emails and use the Internet for other things.

Tags: Financial Aid, Online Education by editor
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As education costs rise and the economy continues to flounder, student debt is one of the most pressing issues for today’s students. However, for students considering Nursing and Education degrees, special Loan Forgiveness programs can help to substantially reduce their school debt. Under certain circumstances, the federal government helps students out by cancelling all or part of an educational loan.

Different states and universities have their own loan forgiveness programs as well. For students training to be teachers, all or part of the educational loans can be forgiven if they agree to teach in low-income districts, or sometimes if they agree to teach high-need subjects such as Special Education, math and science.

The American Federation of Teachers maintains a frequently updated list of loan forgiveness programs for teachers which can be easily accessed online. Under the National Defense Education Act, students who agree to become full-time teachers in low-income districts can participate in a program which forgives 15% of the loan for the first and second year of teaching, 20% for the third year and fourth years and 30% for the fifth year. For students who want to train to be nurses, there is a Nursing Education Loan Repayment program which is a great option. This program is offered through the US Department of Health and Human Services, and it offers loan forgiveness for registered nurses who agree to practice for a set number of years in areas that lack adequate medical care, including remote and/or economically depressed regions.

Applications may be filled out online, and the loan repays up to 60% of the loan balance of registered nurses who agree to work at a critical shortage facility. In addition, nurses may be eligible to work a third year and qualify for an additional 25% of the loan balance paid. Information about all of these programs can be readily found online.

Tags: Financial Aid, Non-Traditional Students, Online Education by editor
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Despite some panicky reporting to the contrary, the fact of the matter is that Stafford Loans are not in danger. The subject has gotten a lot of press recently due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the effects of which have finally trickled down to the arena of student loans.

There will, however, be some problems for student loans in the future, but these problems will be almost entirely limited to private school loans for some high risk borrowers. Students attending schools with reputations that have not yet been established will find that their loans might be at risk in the future as well.

The important thing to remember about this topic is that if an actual crisis arises which affects the availability of Stafford Loans, the federal government can take steps to make sure that the capital still is available. Nevertheless, poorly researched reporting has resulted in widespread fear about the future accessibility of Stafford Loans, and there is a lot of fear, if not panic, starting to go around. The ramifications of this unfounded fear could be many, which is why it’s so important to inform students about what’s actually going on.

One danger is that quick, unhelpful policy changes could take place in an effort to “fix” a problem which does not yet exist. The bigger danger is that students could start to believe that they will have no chance of securing a student loan, so they won’t even try. Remember – there are thousands and thousands of different Stafford Federal Family Education Loan lenders in addition to the Department of Education’s Direct Loan program — and Stafford Loans don’t require a credit check! Your regular, every day banks are still providing Stafford Loans, and some of them have even recently decided to lower interest rates on both federal and private loans. They would not do that if they were seriously worried about their ability to raise capital for the loans. Most big banks and schools are not worried about Stafford Loan availability – so neither should students.

Tags: Financial Aid by editor
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The deadlines for receiving FAFSA financial aid vary depending on the student’s circumstances, state of residence, and school she/he is attending or plans to attend. Some schools and states have different deadlines than the Federal Government and require additional paperwork. Also, students should check to see what is their school’s definition of an application deadline is. Some are receipt dates, while for others its the process date. As with all important applications and paperwork, its never a bad idea to turn in your forms early.
The Federal Government recommends that you submit your FAFSA requirement as close to, but not before, January 1st. That is, if a student wants to apply for financial aid for the 2009-2010 school year, submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1, 2009 as you can. Most schools require that FAFSA forms are submitted by spring in order to receive preference for the school’s financial aid for the following academic year. Students should check their school’s website or speak with a financial aid advisor.
The actual final deadlines posted by the Government are much later than that. The deadline for the 2007-2008 school year is June 30, 2008 for FAFSA on the Web, the primary FAFSA submission tool. Corrections to these forms must be completed by September 22, 2008. For the 2008-2009 school year, FAFSA forms must be submitted by June 30, 2009, while corrections have to be submitted by September 15, 2009.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid by admin
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FAFSA – which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid – has made some important changes recently to both the form as well as to the application process. One of the most important changes is that students can no longer pick up the forms from their high schools, where they used to be distributed in bulk. Students now have to access the form online, they can download and print out the PDF version, or they may call to request up to three (3) paper copies of the form. The reason behind this change is that more students are using the online application. Also, high school juniors can now get an early jump on the FASFA process. Due to recent changes, juniors can now take advantage of the FAFSA4caster Web site, where they can take time to learn about the financial aid process, learn about their eligibility and many other pieces of information. This new site is a great chance for younger students to familiarize themselves with what can be a very overwhelming and scary process. The link to this Website can be found on the left-hand side of the mains fafsa.org Website. For the FAFSA form which is available as of January 1, 2008, there are a number of smaller changes which have been made which do not affect the availability of the forms. All of these changes are already worked into the forms, and the majority of the changes were made to clarify any ambiguous questions for directions. Some of these changes include:

1. The 2008-2009 FAFSA colors are orange for student information and purple for parent information.

2. Question 21 was revised to a more direct question by adding “are you female.” This question was changed in order to determine if a student is required to register with the Selective Service.

3. For Question 16 (on p. 7), specific instructions were added regarding marital status to clarify changing this information after signing the FAFSA.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid by editor
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A large number – almost 66% - of today’s 4-year undergraduate students depend upon student loans to finance their educations. For some, loans are the only way a college education is feasible. Student loans are meant to be taken out and then paid back over a long period of time, usually thirty years. Unfortunately, for many of today’s students, paying back those students loans is becoming harder than ever.

Evidence suggests that today’s Bachelor’s degree is the equivalent of what a high school education meant thirty years ago. In other words, even students with Bachelor’s degrees are having a difficult time landing competitive jobs. This situation translates into the need for additional schooling, and as Master’s and various technical degrees are tacked to already sizable student loans, the prospect of ever paying them beck becomes bleaker and bleaker. The majority of today’s students take on an average of $20,000 in student loans – for some students this number is much, much higher – and the American economy isn’t helping to pay these loans back. A sluggish economy has meant that students entering adulthood with debt already a reality are hit with slow job markets, unsecure jobs, wages that aren’t increasing much and a lot of pressure to perform on the job.

Another way the unstable economy is impacting student loans is something called the “sub-prime mortgage credit crisis.” Essentially, federal and private loans have become less profitable, and this has lead to the decreased availability of private students loans to subprime borrowers, increases in the minimum balance requirements for loan consolidation, cuts in loan discounts (especially on consolidation loans) and increases in interest rates and fees on private student loans as lenders adjust their products to compensate for the rising cost of capital. The bottom line is, the unstable economy has created an increasingly difficult situation for students, some of whom have no option other than to take on more students loans to pursue additional education, and then to enter a workforce which is very difficult to get hired in.

Tags: Career Education, Financial Aid, Online Education by editor
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