Student Loan Blog : college graduation

College Student Finance Guru Blogs His Way to Book Deal

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:04:00 GMT

Zac Bissonnette is living the blogger’s dream, getting paid to write for TheDailyBeast.com and AOL’s WalletPop.com, and now landing a book deal that may be just the ticket for helping him weather a dismal job market in one of the worst recessions in history (“Student Morphs Blog Into Book Deal,” Amherst Bulletin, Jan. 2, 2009).

Publishers Weekly recently announced that Bissonnette, a sophomore majoring in legal studies at the University of Massachusetts, is busy drafting a book for Portfolio, a publishing subsidiary of the Penguin Group, that will chronicle how parents and their children pay for college.

Scheduled for publication in 2010, the same year Bissonnette will graduate, the book will compare the value of a public versus a private college education, and, as Bissonnette explains, will critically examine what happens when students take on too much debt from student loans.

Bissonnette, who is paying his own way through college, says he began blogging in high school from a library computer.

Since then, his personal interest in finances has spiraled into a successful side business; after his blogs were picked up by WalletPop, for which he is now an editor, and The Daily Beast, he was featured on CNN’s “American Morning” for an editorial he wrote concerning President-elect Barack Obama’s economic policy and its effect on student loans.

He got his book deal shortly after his November CNN appearance. Bissonnette said, “I came up with this idea, got an agent, and he put this together.”

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College Students May Be Sheltered From Down Economy, for Now

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:01:00 GMT

Regardless of how long the economy remains in crisis or whether or not this crisis becomes a recession, the effect on students will likely be minimal, at least in the short-term, says Fred Ruppel, economics professor at Eastern Kentucky University (“Student Body May Be Safe From Economic Crunch for Now,” The Eastern ProgressOnline, Nov. 6, 2008).

“Students should be well insulated,” Ruppel told The Eastern ProgressOnline, especially financially independent students who tend to finance their college education with student loans or rely on financial aid to pay for school. “The best place to be during a recession is in school.”

Ruppel points out, however, that students who rely heavily on their parents for financial support could be adversely affected by the downturn in the stock market, now that families’ portfolios may have taken a hit.

Jay Adkins, a sophomore at Eastern, still fears that the $700 million government bailout may be a sign that financing for education is in trouble. “If Freddie Mac and everything else is falling apart in the market, who knows if my student loans are going to be secure?”

Ruppel refutes Adkins’ concerns that the credit crisis will significantly impact student loans any time soon, but he says it may make getting a car loan more difficult for first-time buyers, which could be particularly problematic for students who rely on automobile transportation to get to school. “There’s less money for loans, with a lot more qualifications,” he said.

However, Ruppel does caution that the longer the economy falters, the more it will impact students and graduates. Whitnee Centers, a junior at Eastern, says while gas prices have declined, making her commute cheaper, less people are eating out, and, as a server, her tips are currently down 20 percent.

The economic crisis may have the greatest long-term impact on college graduates, Ruppel says. If the economy fails to create jobs, graduates may begin their professional career with bleak job prospects.

Adkins says, “If my parents know people who are getting laid off and are losing their jobs, who knows what jobs there will be available when I graduate?”

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Community Colleges Want to Control How Much Certain Students Can Borrow in Student Loans

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:54:00 GMT

Concerned that some students at two-year schools may borrow more in federal student loans than they can afford to repay, community college officials want the federal government to give community colleges control over how much their students can borrow in federal aid.

Community colleges want the authority to deny some of their own students the right to take out federally subsidized loans, because the schools believe that some students may not earn enough after graduation to repay their student loan debt, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Community Colleges Want Their Authority, Not Banks,’ Over Student Borrowing,” June 18, 2008).

The change is needed because colleges currently have no way of preventing a student from taking out a college loan that doesn’t make economic sense given the student’s long-term job prospects, says David Baime, vice president of government relations for the American Association of Community Colleges.

The association, which represents more than 1,200 institutions nationwide, is pushing for legislation that would give community colleges the right to control how much their students can borrow, rather than being at the mercy of private lenders who can stop lending to certain schools at any time. The AACC is lobbying for this authority after a recent move by some of the nation’s biggest banks to stop offering student loans to certain community colleges and other two-year institutions.

The banks’ decision to cease lending to these schools also prompted Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Christopher Dodd to introduce legislation that would prohibit lenders from ‘cherry-picking’ which schools they do business with.

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Commencement Speakers to Remain Upbeat Despite Slowed Economy

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:36:00 GMT

This year’s MBA graduates will be seeing a sluggish economy and perhaps even bleak job prospects. Yet many high-profile business leaders returning to their alma maters as commencement speakers are expected to remain upbeat in their remarks to students, writes Kelly Bronk of BusinessWeek (“Graduation Talks Accentuate the Positive,” April 24, 2008).

Top business schools that have landed Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, or Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric for their commencement ceremonies, tend to want their speakers to keep things positive, yet realistic when addressing students this year.

Graduation “is all about the kids,” James Ellis, dean of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, told Bronk. Holli Budd, associate dean for MBA administration and external affairs at the University of Rochester Simon Graduate School of Business commented, “It’s a time to celebrate their success and their future.”

In an effort to do just that, J. Peter Simon, son of Rochester business school's late benefactor William E. Simon, will tend toward optimistic remarks as opposed to focusing on the doom and gloom of a potential U.S. recession.

Robert Rodriguez, CEO of First Pacific Advisors and alumnus of USC’s Marshall School, may convey similar sentiments to students. Dean Ellis expects Rodriguez to empathize with students regarding the difficult economy, but also tackle what students can do to conquer the challenges ahead.

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