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Archive for October, 2010

What Constitutes Financial Assistance When Considering Student Loans?


As with everything else the cost of education has risen significantly. Tuition increases of more than 6% per year are commonly seen today. As an example, in 1973 the price to register at UCLA (University of California) was approximately $200 per quarter and today it is more than $2,000 per quarter.

A tenfold increase is not at all unusual and many things cost ten times more than they cost 25 years ago. On the other hand, salaries have risen about three times in the same time period from in the region of $15,000 – $30,000 per year to approximately $39,000 – $42,000 per year. These numbers vary according to gender, age and more although as a rough guide a threefold increase is about right.

But it is not all gloom and doom. There are many more types of financial aid available today to both parents and students than ever before. Financial assistance, as its name implies, is money which parents and students receive from grants, loans and scholarships issued by both Federal and private lenders to aid students in paying for their education.

A few years ago, students could depend almost entirely on Pell grants and Stafford loans to finance the cost of their education and living expenses. Nowadays Pell grants are still issued although they are needs based and meet a very small proportion of the education cost today. Stafford loans are also needs based but can range from 25% to 40% of the average cost of financing school these days. Another form of aid is Perkins loans that are similar to Stafford loans but that are issued only to the lowest income families.

Fortunately, plus loans are also available now and these were not around a few years ago. plus loans are given to parents and not students to help parents to pay for their child’s education. Interest rates on PLUS loans are average and there are some restrictions and fees levied but they often form part of the student’s total package of funding.

A very quick note about fees. A lot of loans are for a specific amount like $6,000 per year to be disbursed in several payments (typically one payment each semester). But it is common for up to 4% in fees to be taken from the loan amount before the funds are disbursed. That 4% fee on a $6,000 represents $240 that you never see but that you must repay. If you are seeking a loan ensure that you do your homework and see if you can find a low or no-fee loan.

Though Federal loan programs like the subsidized Stafford loan program have low fees and the government pays the interest, they are not the only source of financial assistance today and are not always the best choice.

Funding the cost of education today is a complicated operation and most students will need to assemble a package of funding that includes scholarships, grants, Federal loans and private borrowing.

Luckily, there are now far more sources of finance available than ever before and market competition between private lenders especially means that it is possible to get funds at a price that will not necessarily break the bank.

You are also fortunate to be living in an age where finding the information that you need to make reasoned decisions about the choices open to you is also quite easy.

TheStudentLoansCentre.com provides a wealth of information for students covering everything from an introduction to student loans to a detailed look at student loan consolidation

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Students Let Down By Loan System SNAFU


Bill Rammell not so long ago announced new plans for the transformation of the delivery of student finance in England. It now seems that all is not well with the system and over 21?000 graduates continued to make repayments to the Student Loans Company (SLC) even though they had cleared their debt.

The figures are quite horrifying with an exponential upward trend since 2001, increasing from a mere 267 to 21?774 in less than 7 years. What is more worrying is that with the increase of student debt as reported by The Student Zone towards the end of last year, it can only compound the problem further.

The system to end repayments may be a contributing factor towards the problem. Once a student graduates and providing they earn more the ?15?000 a year, nine per cent is deducted from their salary by HM Revenue & Customs. When the graduate is about to repay the loan amount the SLC sends them a letter asking them to send a copy of their P60 or all pay-slips from their final tax year as proof they have paid. It is only then that the SLC will send “stop notice” to HM Revenue & Customs.

So the SLC sends you a letter you send them one back and then they send a letter to the Taxman who only then stops deducting the repayments. So what happens if you抮e a graduate that has moved house recently or there is a postal strike, not forgetting that it maybe a good number of years after graduating and you could even be abroad at the time. So what happens? Well it抯 quite simple really they keep taking the money until the end of the financial year and only then is it automatically stopped.

Mike Harding of The Student Zone and the Student Debt Reduction Solution (SDRS) commented on the news

“When you look at the figures and the time scales it makes for worrying reading, yet another over complicated government system handling a simple process, it reminds me all to much of the failed Child Support Agency. I would like to ask and be interested to find out where all this money ends up before it is refunded to the students”

In fact on Monday 3 July 2006 the SLC released a Press Announcement entitled “SLC welcomes unveiling of new Student Finance delivery system” At the end of the document a handy “summary of key changes” was included in the editors notes and under the heading “Timely payments:” it states “We will be able to contact students ? by texting their mobile phones,?” surely if the SLC can be this efficient with payments they could use the same kind of efficiency and insight into notifying the students they have made all their repayments.

Or indeed use of email could be one solution, after all its not often we change our personal email address and when we move house it doesn抰 change and the internet is not often likely to go on strike due to a pay dispute with a bunch of Cisco Reuters

So Bill how are you going to sort this one out? |||The Student ZoneAuthers site

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Top 10 Helpful Hints in Getting Student Loans


Student loans are inevitable to manage the cost of education in the present social and economic conditions. Scholarships are the most appreciated tool for the student financial assistance. However every student will not be able to procure the scholarships. Student loans are the better alternative solutions to meet the education expenditure. The student loans are recommended as the education aid since they are structured especially to cater the specific needs of the students such as repayment has to be started only after the completion of education and a specific grace period and so on. Moreover the interest rates of the student loans are better, in comparison to any other loans including personal loans or secured personal loans. Anyway, the thorough understanding of the application procedure is essential to procure the best student loan as most of the loans are time bound. The following 10 hints will help you to have an idea about getting a student loan.

1. Student loan is available from federal governments as well as private lenders. The federal loans are preferred because of its unique advantages. However in many cases, it will not be satisfactory to meet all the living expenditures and the private student loan is used as a bridge to meet the additional requirements.

2. Federal loans are provided on the basis of the need of the student. The federal Stanford loan is available in subsidized and unsubsidized versions. In case of subsidized loans the government will repay the debits. To resource the complete benefits you must be able to prove the essentiality of the assistance.

3. To apply for the federal loan, the student must qualify the essential qualification such as a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) certificate. The application must include all the supporting documents to substantiate the need of the loan.

4. The character and conduct of the student is very important in the federal assistance approval and they insist that any charge of conviction about drug abuse is intolerable.

5. The federal loans can be applied electronically through the online submission of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The most important thing regarding the federal loans is to apply it before the last date as late filing will lead to unnecessary confusions and delay in the loan approval.

6. In case of undergraduate students, parents can apply for the particular low interest rate Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, which is often called as PLUS.

7. The private loans are provided by the private lenders and most of them obviously have higher rates than federal rates. However, they act as unsecured personal loans, which can be used specifically for education.

8. The credit will be on the basis of the private loan approval. The availability of a co-signer, who has a good credit score, will help to gain the most competitive rates for the loan.

9. Irrespective of the type of loan, the student must be aware about the attributes of the loan such as the rates and repayment formalities before signing the agreement.

10. However do not be worried about the repayment of multiple loans. If you are unable to manage all the loans, you can opt for a low rate student debt consolidation at the beginning of the of the loan repayment, after the course completion and grace period.

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Are Students Getting In Over Their Head With Student Credit Card Debt?


It’s no big surprise that major credit card companies are aiming their marketing campaigns towards our countries up and coming generation. To credit card companies, no consumer is more profitable than today’s college students.

Students are big business to them, and for good reasons. Why? Simple, teens like to spend money they don’t have! Were you poor when you left the house and took your first shot at the big University? Yeah, so was I. In fact the majority of today’s college students live off of loans and a minimum wage job, leaving them very little to spend on merchandise. This is where the credit card companies make their killing. Instead of saving up for that cute pink shirt on the clearance rack, or that shiny new watch, students can charge it to the new “low” APR student card they just received in the mail. In fact, by opening up credit card booths Nationwide, credit card companies are making it easier than ever for students to get their feet wet.

So in answer to the topic question: yes, students are most definitely getting in over their head when it comes to credit and debt management. If your part of the younger generation you may recall getting your very first shiny gold/platinum card in the mail. Do you remember skipping all the fine print mumbo jumbo? Well, most students today are in the same boat. The only thing we cared about is that little line at the bottom that tells us how much we can spend: our line of credit. The fact is, Most “Student” credit cards come with a ridiculously high APR and crippling late fee charges, which in most cases, cause the APR to soar even higher!

This may seem a little redundant and obvious to you and I, but to students, the phrases “APR”, “late fees” and “interest rates” aren’t an established part of their vocabulary yet. This is where things get sticky. The statistics don’t lie, and research has it that nearly 11 percent of people who seek credit counseling are under the age of 24. According to Colorado Public Interest Research Group, 49 percent of Colorado’s college students have more than one credit card, which is higher than the national average of 37%!

The solution should be obvious. Students should be taught about credit and debt management. In fact, most students don’t even know that free nonprofit credit counseling agencies are at their disposal, nationwide. Counseling can help make budgets or stop students from sinking further in debt. They also re-teach young students the “value” of the dollar bill, a concept slowly diminishing in our day and age. It’s obvious credit card companies care very little about this. The more we don’t know, the more they make.

About the author:
Adam Boulton is currently enrolled as a full-time student and has seen first hand the damages student credit cards can cause. If you would like more info about the pros and cons of student credit cards please visit his website at StudentResourceCenter.com

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Student loan strategies and tips for 2007


It is quite difficult for graduates to find easily and immediately a job to be able to cover their daily expenses and pay back the loans for their recently graduated studies. Most lenders offer a period of grace for six month after graduation, but sometimes it may take more than a year for a graduate to find a decent job. Even if they do find such a job, they discover that as a beginner they are underemployed, work part-time or even have a temporary employment with no perspectives. So, after the six month period of grace the re-payment is supposed to begin, and they need help if they are in the impossibility to cover all their expenses, including the loans.

Strategies for the New College Graduates
Student loans repayment can be a real nightmare without adopting some strategies that would help the new graduates to organize their social and financial life. Here are some strategies they can use to do this:
- An additional part-time job;
- Freelancing is another options (meaning that they can do particular pieces of work for different organisations, without working all the time for a single organisation);
- They should try to keep their living expenses as low as possible (live in a smaller apartment, live with a roommate to share some of the expenses, find an apartment that is closer to the job, to eliminate the extra-expenses for transport etc.);
- To apply for forbearance (this is an immediate solution for hard times when the new graduate is in impossibility to re-pay the loans; it is a temporary period, when the graduate can postpone or delay his or her re-payments until a later time on a federal or direct loan after the beginning of the re-payment, and when the student doesn’t qualify for deferral). The forbearance must be applied through the lenders of the loans.
- To consolidate the payments.

The Consolidation
If the payments are not consolidated, each loan is paid, billed and taken into account separately. The student receives payment slips for each loan. There is a lot of paperwork to be done. You can imagine that there could be even, let’s say, ten loans to be accounted and billed each of them separately. If you add the payment for each individual loan, you can get to a total of $500 or $1000 per month. The total can be even more, depending on the total amount borrowed from the lenders, and also depending on the rate of interest perceived for each loan. It’s not easy to cover all these and support the expenses of your daily living.

That is why the consolidation of all loans is the solution accepted by the banks and extremely supportive for those who have such hard times when after graduation they have to return large amounts of money to the lenders.

Consolidation means joining together, it is a process which combines al the loans of a student or graduate into only one loan. Through this a student’s monthly payment is reduced very much to a decent amount that could be paid easier. The risk is lower for both the students and the lenders. This sum can be estimated to about $250 even $100 in a monthly bill. Again, the total sum to be paid monthly depends on the amount borrowed, the interest rate and how has the loan been consolidated. More information on www.100studentloans.com

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