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Private Student Loan Issues Examined in New Report
Tweet Share on Facebook August 8, 2012 Comment"Private Student Loans," the July 20th report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to Congress, is data-driven and understated. It is also compelling and holds the feet of the private loan industry to the fire.
The most important information for borrowers and their families concerns the riskiness of private student loans and the difficulty distinguishing between private and federal loans. Nearly all private loans mimic key features of federal Stafford loans: They do not require borrowers to pay in school, offer a six-month grace period after graduation, and offer further deferment if a borrower returns to school. Unfortunately, these superficial similarities mask significant risks.
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Investing in Children Early Increases Access to Education
Tweet Share on Facebook August 1, 2012 CommentAt the Student Loan Ranger, we care a lot about student loans—not because it's in our name, but because student debt can impact major life decisions: the ability to take a lower-paying public interest job, start a family, buy a house, and even whether to go to college or not. That last one's a little ironic, since federal student loans were created as one way to increase access to education.
[Read about student loan changes for 2012.]
And the Student Loan Ranger most definitely cares about access to education. Higher education is often called the great equalizer—the path through which anyone, by effort and ability, can realize the American Dream.
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Use Loans Carefully, Students Advise
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2012 CommentSummer is winding down (though the heat continues to rise) and students are preparing to head back to school. As you're considering loans for school, think about minimizing your borrowing and avoiding spiraling debt.
At the Student Loan Ranger, we have some great summer interns willing to share their experiences with borrowing for school and how they've learned to use that money wisely.
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How to Use College Navigator in Your School Search
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2012 CommentSummer is halfway over, and you know what that means: college application season! The process is complex, but necessary to figure out where you're going to spend the next few years learning to be an adult.
It's been 10 years since I started thinking about college applications and I'm a bit jealous of all the resources available to students today. My most recent object of envy is the College Navigator, a tool from the Department of Education that culls information submitted by universities and posts them in a somewhat digestible format online.
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Gainful Employment Regulations Put on Hold
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2012 CommentA few weeks ago, we wrote about new regulations that were to take effect on July 1 to ensure career education programs were preparing their students for gainful employment.
But on June 30, a federal district judge vacated the regulation's debt-measure scheme, as well as portions of the regulation it ruled were "intertwined" with the scheme.
The result? Gainful employment is on hold.
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Student Debt Crisis Still Needs Long-Term Solution
Tweet Share on Facebook July 5, 2012 CommentIt's been a big week in the nation's capital. All three branches of government were in the limelight: The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Health Care Act (or most of it, anyway), and Congress approved a $127 billion transportation and student loan package to enact changes that were long-championed by the Obama administration.
[Read about student loan changes for 2012.]
Loyal readers of the Student Loan Ranger may already have guessed that this is the measure that would maintain the federal subsidized Stafford loan interest rate at the current 3.4 percent. But while the idea of maintaining lower interest rates may seem like a no-brainer, what is going on with the federal student loan program is much more complicated than it appears.
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2 Longstanding Programs That Still Help College Students
Tweet Share on Facebook June 27, 2012 CommentIt's June 27, we are in the final homestretch of the student loan interest rate debate, and Congress seems well on their way to a deal that would keep the interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent for another year, leaving a long-term solution for another day.
[Get up to date on student loan changes.]
At the Student Loan Ranger, we're glad to see any movement in Congress to help keep college costs down, so we'd be remiss in not also applauding the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for approving a fiscal year 2013 education budget that goes a long way in solving next year's Pell grant funding crisis.
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New Gainful Employment Regulations May Impact College Students
Tweet Share on Facebook June 20, 2012 CommentThe Student Loan Ranger has talked a lot about the fact that, absent government intervention, the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1.
We haven't talked as much about the fact that the Department of Education's new gainful employment regulations are also slated to take place July 1. In the long run, though, gainful employment may well have a larger impact on more students.
[Read about other loan changes slated for July 1.]
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Significant Student Debt Reforms Quietly Take Flight
Tweet Share on Facebook June 13, 2012 CommentOnce again, much of the press attention last week focused on the political posturing around the pending doubling of subsidized Stafford loan interest rates. President Obama flew off to address students in Las Vegas, telling them in part that "the No. 1 thing Congress should do for you is to stop interest rates on student loans from going up."
[Learn more about student loans.]
That was followed by a Twitter chat on student loan interest rates and Income-Based Repayment. Meanwhile, a seemingly endless series of proposals and counterproposals continued to make the short but acrimonious flight between the House and Senate.
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What Romney's Education Plan Means for College Students
Tweet Share on Facebook June 6, 2012 CommentIn addition to providing must-watch late night television, student debt continues to play a role in the presidential election. On May 23, Mitt Romney unveiled his own education plan, "A Chance for Every Child: Mitt Romney's Plan for Restoring the Promise of American Education."
While the plan is relatively lacking in shock-value, your Student Loan Ranger will take a stab at breaking down its implications for higher education from our own inimitable student debt perspective.
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