Results tagged “loans” from EdLabor Journal

Jonathan Glater has an article in today's New York Times about the good news for college students and graduates starting on July 1st. The new benefits include lower interest rates on federally student loans and an option to lower monthly payments based upon one's income (see video below).

“These benefits are guaranteed, no matter what happens in our economy, and are kicking in at exactly the right time for millions of Americans,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House education committee.

See Chairman Miller's complete statement here.


Source: IBRinfo.org

The Boston Globe's personal finance reporter, Jill Boynton, has a concise article about the new benefits for students with federal college loans that start on July 1, 2009.

But what if you have a job, but not a lot of income? Under the Income-Based Repayment plan (IBR) your payments are capped to no more than 15% of discretionary income, an amount that is based on the federal poverty guideline. "Discretionary income" is defined as the difference between adjusted gross income and 150 percent of the federal poverty line that corresponds to your family size and the state you live in (from www.finaid.org).

These new options apply to the Stafford, Grad Plus and federal consolidated loans and your loans must be in good standing. If you are unemployed, you can apply for a deferment of up to 3 years. Read the entire article and visit www.ibrinfo.org to learn more about the income-based repayment plan.

In today's paper, the New York Times has an article about the difficulty of paying for college. It follows Brennan Jackson, an A-student who ranks near the top of his high school class, as he tries to raise the $25,000 he still needs for his freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, by stitching together a quilt of merit scholarships.

While Brennan’s situation, and the remedy he is pursuing, may sound extremely ambitious, guidance counselors across the country say they can recall no prior year in which so many applicants’ families have been squeezed by so many financial pressures.

Not only have families’ incomes been falling as their savings have dwindled, but also tuition has been rising — including proposed increases of nearly 10 percent next year throughout the University of California system....

Interest rates on student loans, including on popular federal programs like the unsubsidized Stafford (now nearly 7 percent) and Parent Plus (8.5 percent), are running several percentage points higher than the rates on secured loans, like home equity lines of credit.

“The difference of rates between secured and unsecured loans is higher than I have ever seen,” said Scott White, director of counseling services at Westfield High School in New Jersey. “This is one further impediment to access to post-secondary education for all but the well-to-do.”

President Obama has put forth a solid plan to make federal student loans more reliable, while saving taxpayers billions of dollars. To learn about the President's proposal, click here.

Chairman Miller on making college more affordable.



Will Congress pass Obama's student loan plan?

In today's News of the Day, the San Francisco Chronicle has an editorial about the importance for reform in the student loan industry. They say "one of the most sensible proposals in President Obama's budget would end federal subsidies for private lenders in favor of direct government loans."  And they take on several of the complaints about President Obama's proposal. For instance,

This proposal would not threaten private lenders' ability to make private loans to college students at unregulated (and often highly profitable) interest rates. It would simply allow the federal government to keep the profits from loans it already subsidizes, instead of handing them over to banks. It would improve efficiency and save money, and it should have been passed a long time ago.

And there is more at the San Francisco Chronicle and we encourage you to read the entire editorial.

To learn more about where Chairman Miller stands on this proposal, see his statement on President Obama's budget.

In today's New York Times, the editorial board declared, "The direct-lending proposal is clearly in the country’s best interest."

Private companies that reap undeserved profits from the federal student-loan program are gearing up to kill a White House plan that would get them off the dole and redirect the savings to federal scholarships for the needy. Instead of knuckling under to the powerful lending lobby, as it has so often done in the past, Congress needs to finally put the taxpayers’ interests first. That means embracing President Obama’s plan.

This builds upon Rep. Miller and the Education and Labor Committee's efforts in the 110th Congress.

We encourage you to read the entire editorial. And these from the Syracuse Post-Standard and the Albany Times Union.

Today's university graduates are faced with a tough job market and thousands of dollars in loans to repay. This often makes choosing to work in traditionally low-paying fields such as public service a tough decision. However, under the College Cost Reduction Act, graduates can reduce or eliminate their loans by entering into a career in the military, volunteering, teaching or practicing law or medicine in low-income communities.

CNN Money has an article about how specific provisions in the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 can help recent graduates.

Under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, two federal loan forgiveness programs could provide greater assistance to those who decide to pursue careers that serve the public. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) could make student loan forgiveness much more accessible to the masses.

"Both of these programs are much more widely available than anything that's been available in the past," says Irons.

We encourage you to read the entire article to learn more about the two provisions, as well as visit the Department of Labor's website for the IBR and PSLF provisions.

The New York Times published an editorial this morning entitled Helping Students, Not Lenders. They highlight President Obama's efforts to save taxpayers $47.5 billion over ten years and make loans more dependable for students.

The budget rightly calls for phasing out the wasteful and all-too-corruptible portion of the student program that relies on private lenders. And it calls for expanding the less-expensive and more-efficient program that allows students to borrow directly from the federal government. That means doing away with the Federal Family Education Loan Program, under which private lenders receive unnecessary subsidies to make risk-free student loans that are guaranteed by taxpayers.

This builds upon Rep. Miller and the Education and Labor Committee's efforts in the 110th Congress.

We encourage you to read the entire editorial.