Obama’s student loan reform plan boils down to several key points which I’ve summarized below:

1. Families would receive a $10,000 tax credit for attending four years of college.
2. Pell Grant limits would be increased.
3. Once the repayment period begins (six months after graduating or dropping out), students would need to make payments equivalent to 10% of their current income instead of 20% which is currently the standard.
4. Any remaining student loan debt will be forgiven after 20 years of paying them back instead of the current 25 years. Additionally, grads who find a career in the public sector will be eligible to have their student debt forgiven within 10 years. Click this link for more information about federal loan forgiveness programs.

This new student loan plan would cost the federal government an estimated $1-$2 billion over the next five years. Much of the costs would be carried by the restructuring of the current student loan infrastructure, such as by streamlining the loan process and eliminating private lenders from the equation.

These changes would have a huge impact when consolidating student loans as well. Think about it…Will you even need student loan consolidation anymore? It’s a valid question considering student loan payments would be half what they are currently (from 20% to 10% of anyone person’s income). This means that paying back student loans would be much more manageable than ever before, and may greatly reduce the need for consolidation. Of course I’m jumping the gun a bit considering these proposed changes to the student loan sector have yet to be put into law, so it could be months, or more likely years, before we see any of this reform put into law. Until then, consolidating student loans may still be one of the best options available to college grads looking to reduce their payments or lower their interest rates.

One thing’s for sure—under the Obama administration, and hopefully beyond his tenure, the cost of attending and paying for college is becoming increasingly affordable. And that’s extremely important as we try to crawl our way out of this recession.

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Mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and other lines of credit are tougher to get than ever. Banks are still a bit cautious in terms of lending to consumers in this down economy, but the same can’t be said for the student loan lending market. Student loans are more popular than ever as laid off workers return to school to further their education and those with an associates or bachelors degree go back to school to try and get an edge in this competitive job market.

It’s a smart move by consumers who are looking to further their education. If you’re laid off right now, why not go back to school and learn a new trade or gain more knowledge in one you already know. The job market is in the hands of the employers who have their pick of employees out there, so it’s essential nowadays to have an edge over the next guy.

Since student loans are not like other types of loans in that they can be considered an investment into your future, it’s not a bad thing to take out a few federal loans in order for you to afford to go back to college. Though you will acquire some student debt while attending college which must be paid back starting six months after you graduate or dropout, a college degree is really the only way that most laid off workers will be able to stay afloat in this terrible job market.

Consolidating student loans can be a great option for many grads who may be about to begin the student loan repayment process but think that they may not be able to afford the payments. This is a common problem that is directly attributed to the down economy and how difficult it is to find a steady job. Consolidating student loans into one easy to manage loan can help you reduce your monthly payments and sometimes even lower your interest rates. Student loan consolidation may not be the best choice in every case, however, so checkout some of my other posts on how to consolidate student loans here at CSLO so you can make an informed decision before you sign the dotted line.

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A common mistake made by many college students is waiting until the last minute to file their FAFSA. This is a big mistake that can lead to receiving no funding at all. You must keep in mind that the amount of time it takes to file a FAFSA application often exceeds a month, so if you wait until the very last moment, it may just be too late.

The submission deadline for the 2010-2011 school year is midnight June 30, 2010. The state deadline is usually much sooner than that–some state deadlines are as early as March 1st. Find your state’s FAFSA submission deadlines here.

I recommend completing your FAFSA as soon as possible so that you have it done and out of the way. It can be completed at the start of the new year, so don’t procrastinate and risk forgetting to file or filing too late. You can quickly and easily fill out the application online, which I recommend because the filing times are usually much quicker. Just make sure to follow all of the instructions given to you at the FAFSA website so that you don’t miss a step, fill in the wrong information or don’t have the proper financial papers available at the time of filling out the application.

You can head over to the FAFSA website to get started on the application for federal aid. The great thing about the online submission process is that automatically saves your progress as you fill out the information so you can come back to the application at a later date if necessary.

Happy 2010 everyone!

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The two participating universities are the University of California at Berkeley and Georgetown University—two very prestigious schools with very good law schools. These schools are offering new law students the chance to erase their student loan debt simply by completing their law degree and finding work in the public service sector (i.e., court appointed attorney, etc…). These lawyers on average start out at $41,000/year and go up from there. It’s not uncommon for students with law degrees to graduate with $100,000 or more in student loan debt, so being able to have that debt forgiven could be very attractive option to many students thinking about a career in law.

University of California at Berkeley

Both Georgetown and Berkeley are offering to make student loan payments for a period of 10 years following graduation and upon finding work in the public sector. Berkeley grads making less than $65,000/year would have 100% of their student loan debt paid for, while those making up to $100,000 per year will have only a portion of their student debt paid. Georgetown graduates earning less than $75,000 can expect to have their student loan debt covered.

Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

These programs only cover federal financial aid and not private funding. This may change in the future, however, so we’ll let you know if and when it does. Federal aid limits are higher for law students pursuing a law degree, so in most cases, federal student loans will cover most–if not all–of the college expenses incurred while attending school.

No word yet on whether other colleges and universities plan to follow the lead of Georgetown and Berkeley in granting loan forgiveness to their law degree graduates. The hope is that other schools do implement similar programs and not only for law students but also for other graduates finding jobs in other areas of public service.

(Source)

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With the hike in college education expenses, it is tough for college aspirants to obtain sufficient grants and financial aids to pay for college education and essential requirements. As a result of this, they resort to student loans available from different sources. They even need to use their credit cards for buying school supplies and books. As per data provided by the United College Marketing Service (UCMS), every student carries 2.8 credit cards on an average. Since they don’t have income to pay off their loans, they often pile up a big amount of debt. Following are seven useful techniques to pay off student loans:

1) Develop a strategy

In strategizing how to pay off bills, it is important to pay off your student loans prior to completing graduation.

2) Try to save money

Every summer during your college session, look for a job or placement. Save 50% of the money earned in a savings account offering a high interest rate like Ing.com or Emigrantdirect.com. After one or two months, discuss with a financial consultant to get the maximum possible return on your money. Once you complete graduation, you can utilize this fund to pay off your student loans.

3) Consolidate your student loans

You can use consolidation to pay down your student loans. However, you should be careful. You can consolidate your student loans into one convenient monthly payment but you might not always end up getting an affordable interest rate. You must do thorough research prior to consolidating your student loans. You might not qualify for different student loan forgiveness programs if you go for consolidation.

4) Swap job to lower debt

You can do unpaid jobs or work in the following areas in return for lowering your student loan debts:

• Working for PeaceCorps or Americorps
• Teaching in particular areas with students with low income or areas with dearth of teachers
• Offering medico-legal services in low income neighborhoods

5) Find a work-study job

To pay off the costs of your college education, you must look for a work-study job through campus. Visit the campus employee office to inquire about their work-study plan. These jobs pay you the minimum wage for that state.

6) Request for financial aids/scholarships

Most recently, there have been cutbacks in the budget for financial aids so it’s quite difficult to receive a scholarship to attend college. You can enhance your probabilities of obtaining a scholarship by filling out as many applications as possible. If you fill out minimum 50 applications, you have the chance of getting 5 scholarships as a minimum. You can also visit your campus scholarship office and make queries about financial aids available for students. Be amicable towards the scholarship office staffs who would let you know about any scholarship programs as soon as they become available. You can look for scholarships online as well.

7) Request for grants

Request for as many grants as you can. You can also send applications for federal grants like the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program (FSEOG), the Federal Pell Grant, National Science Scholars Program and Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership or LEAP.

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Consolidating federal student loans is a relatively easy process that requires no credit checks, no loan limits and there’s an interest rate cap of 8.25% (as of the date of this writing). Private student loan consolidation, on the other hand, doesn’t follow the federal guidelines. The individual banks make their own rules and regulations to follow when handling private loan consolidations. It’s important to point out that federal loans must be consolidated separately from private loans.

How Private Student Loan Consolidation Differs from Federal

• Your student loan balance typically needs to exceed $7,500 in order to qualify for private consolidation.
• Interest rates are variable, and they vary based on a variety of factors (i.e., credit history, market conditions, etc…).
• They cannot be combined with federal loans in order to have one consolidation loan.
• The lender will check your credit score to help determine whether you are eligible for a private loan consolidation and to determine your interest rate.

Are You a Good Candidate for Private Student Loan Consolidation?
Most experts agree that private student loan consolidation may not be an ideal option for all. Situations where it may be worth looking into include:

• Your credit score has gone up 50-100 points since you originally took out your private loans.
• You want to relieve your co-signer from their duty as the “back-up” if you should fail to make your payments and have only yourself as the payment provider.
• You want to simplify your payments each month by having just one student loan payment rather than multiple payments.

As always, remember to shop around for the best deals when searching for a private consolidation loan. Not all lenders offer these types of loans, so you may find yourself checking 3-5 different lenders before ever finding one that offers student loan consolidations.

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Of the estimated 275,000 veterans who have applied for the GI Bill assistance this year, 82,000 of them have actually enrolled in college and of those, 52,000 have actually received the financial assistance. The problem has been the lack of resources available to the Department of Veterans Affairs who has the job of processing all of the applications. And since this is the first year the new GI Bill has actually been put into law, there are going to be a few bugs that need to be worked out in order for the application process to run much more smoothly and efficiently. That being said, the Depart of Veteran Affairs is doing its best to keep up with the demand by processing approximately 3,000 applications per day (as of 11/11/2009) according to their website.

Because of the delays in receiving financial assistance, some veterans are being forced to take out student loans to supplement the ever-increasing cost of attending college. There is an alternative to taking out student loans for veterans waiting on their GI Bill financial assistance. You can go to a VA regional office and walk out with a check to $3,000 per visit as sort of a deferred payment for covering the costs of tuition, books, housing and other materials until you receive your full financial aid package.

There are also other financial aid options out there available to veterans that you can find at the VA website. Some of the programs that would be covered include: job training, cosmetology license, flight schools, apprenticeships, C++ certification, attorney license and much more. It’s worth taking a look at the many federal programs out there that are aimed at providing tuition-free education to veterans.

Happy Veteran’s Day everyone!

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That being said, students who have received PLUS loans are eligible to to consolidate those loans immediately after they’re fully disbursed. This is the only federal loan that follows these guidelines.

Defaulted student loans can be consolidated, but you must meet certain criteria in order to qualify. I recently wrote a post on this very topic that will let you know about the best way to handle a defaulted student loan so that it becomes eligible to be consolidated. This process often takes several months, so plan ahead.

In order to qualify for a federal Direct Consolidation Loan, you must have at least one Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) or Direct Loan. A single loan can technically be rolled into a consolidation loan, although this option should only be considered if you find a much better interest rate by consolidating.

Interest rates on a federal consolidation loan cannot exceed 8.25%. So you should not even consider consolidating unless your interest rates are much lower than this figure. The advantage of a federal consolidation loan, however, is that the interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan. The exact interest rate is determined by a formula set by federal statute that takes into account your current interest rates and combines them to form a weighted average.

Summary:

Anyone who has at least one outstanding FFEL or Direct Loan can apply for federal consolidation. You must either be graduated, dropped out, or attending school less than half-time in order to consolidate your federal loans. The exception to the rule is with PLUS loans, in which you are eligible to consolidate upon disbursement if desired. Defaulted student loans can be consolidated, but you must first satisfy certain requirements to make the loan current.

Student debt can pile up faster than you may think, so do consider consolidating when you become eligible to do so. While it’s not the right option for everyone, in many cases it can help save money, reduce monthly payments and make it easier to manage large amounts of college debt.

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If you know anything about private student loans, you know that the interest rates of private loans are variable and can fluctuate greatly. The CFPA would oversee the private student loan lending industry to help eliminate “unfair, deceptive, or abusive” practices by lenders. Of course, this is a great win for college students who are increasingly forced to supplement their federal student loans with private loans in order to pay for the rising costs of attending college. Banks, on the other hand, strongly opposed the idea of having the federal government regulate the private financial sector.

The CFPA should help private student loans to become much more affordable for students by increased federal regulation aimed at eliminating deceptive tactics, offering fixed interest rates, outlawing deceptive marketing tactics and other unfair business practices. In addition to private student lending, the CFPA will also monitor other financial industries, including the mortgage and credit card industries.

H.R. 3126 is a key component of President Obama’s plan to regulate the nation’s financial system. Abusive lending is one of the biggest reasons the U.S. Economy is in such a slump, and the CFPA will hopefully provide an added layer of protection against future recessions. It should also help student loans become more affordable, which is a good thing considering that a good education is so important to our future.

Source: L.A. Times

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This strategy is simple: pay off your student loans early. Sounds easy enough, but how do you do it? Well, I have to first mention that this strategy may not work in every situation, but for some it’s very doable. Upon graduation from college, you will begin repaying your student loans six months later and depending upon how much student debt you’ve accumulated over the past 2,4, 6 or more years, the interest rate charges and large monthly payments can really eat away at your finances fast. So attack your student loan debt by paying it off early.

Here’s an example:

The average college student who attends school for four years will accumulate about $25,000 in student loans depending upon the cost to attend the college or university. When a student such as this graduates and begins repayment on the $25,000 in student loans, their payments will likely be around $300 per month if the loan terms are set at 10 years (as most of them are). This is assuming an interest rate of 6.8% (Federal Stafford Loan rate), but private student loans may be as high as 10%. Federal Plus loans have fixed rates of 8.5%, and Perkins Loans have 5% fixed interest rates. So 6.8% is a good overall estimate of what you’d be looking at. For grads who can afford to pay more than the $300 per month, they would save a significant amount of the approximately $9,500 in interest charges paid over the 10 year repayment period. Paying off the student loans in 5 years, for instance, would drop the total interest rate charges down to about $4,500 – a $5,000 reduction!

Not every student can afford to make double or triple monthly payments though, so one option would be to live with Mom and Dad for a few years (if they allow it!) while you attack your student loan debt and get it paid off as quickly as possible. Living rent free is a great way to be able to put more money toward your student loan debt since rent or a mortgage is probably the biggest expense you will ever have. Another option would be to get a roommate or two or three to live with you for a few years to help lower your monthly rent obligations and free up some money to put toward student debt each month.

This student loan repayment strategy will only work for those people who are motivated to pay off their student loan debt asap. And if you’re one of those people, I’m happy to say that you’re well on your way to succeeding in life – at least financially. Those who can reduce or eliminate their debt quickly and efficiently are the ones who will not be living paycheck to paycheck their whole lives, because that’s what credit and debt can do to you – and in case you don’t know, living paycheck to paycheck is not a great way to live!

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