Student Loan Blog : jobs

$1M Awarded to Unnamed Whistleblowers in Federal Student Aid Suit

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:22:00 GMT

Alta Colleges, operating 17 campuses in six states, recently settled a lawsuit involving student-aid fraud allegations and has agreed to pay the federal government $7 million, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (“Proprietary College to Pay $7-Million to Settle Federal Student-Aid Charges,” April 20, 2009).

Unnamed whistleblowers filed the suit, which alleges Alta Colleges made false claims to be eligible for federal student aid, under the False Claims Act. The act allows individuals to sue on behalf of the federal government and get a portion of a suit’s monetary settlement, in this case, about $1.19 million.

The suit accuses Denver-based Alta Colleges Inc. of improperly obtaining a state license to operate in Texas under the name Westwood Colleges by lying that its campuses complied with state requirements on job-placement reporting.

To obtain the licensing, Alta claimed that more than 90 percent of its students received jobs after graduation when the actual figure was 54 percent and only about 33 percent of Alta graduates were actually placed in positions by the school, reports The Associated Press.

Alta was also accused of misrepresenting its interior design program, The Chronicle reports, saying that its program complied with professional interior design industry licensing requirements when it did not.

George Burnett, Alta CEO, assured school faculty and staff by letter that the company believes it had acted lawfully, but chose to settle with the government due to the projected cost and time involved in litigation.

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Senate Bill to Pay Off Student Loans for Montana Graduates

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:21:00 GMT

A new bill facing the Montana Senate would give college graduates an incentive to seek employment in the state by creating a tax credit program for employers who help pay off a portion of graduates’ student loans, reports the Montana Kaimin (“Senate Bill Would Help Graduates Pay Back Their Loans,” Feb. 13, 2009).

Currently about 70 percent of students who attend the Montana University System graduate with student loan debt, according to Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program, the state’s federal student loan guarantor. Many of those graduates are forced to leave the state to find jobs that pay well enough for them to be able to afford their student loan payments, as Montana’s wages are amongst the lowest in the nation.

“So many of these kids leave college with high student loan debt, and they just don’t have many choices because they have to go somewhere where they can make enough money to repay their loan debt,” says bill sponsor Roy Brown.

Tax Credit Program Includes Significant Incentives

Known as the “Keep Our Kids Here Tax Credit,” Senate bill 304 would offer employers a tax cut that would be equal to the amount employers contribute to a qualified employee’s student loan debt. Montana state graduates could see up to $5,000 of their loans paid off by their employer each year for up to three years.

To qualify, graduates must have completed a degree from a two- or four-year Montana college by 2009 or later and must be employed in the state at least 32 hours per week for nine months or more during the tax year.

“What we hope to do with this bill is to provide an incentive to businesses to hire graduates from Montana’s four-year and two-year institutions to start using resources the state has invested in,” said lobbyist Lucas Hamilton.

Although the bill, which is estimated to cost the state between $4 million and $38 million in tax revenue over a three-year period, faces an uphill battle at a time when the state is poised to make significant budget cuts, Brown says that Montana can afford to support the new program because the state will soon receive federal stimulus money and because his new bill will directly benefit the state’s economy.

He says, “When you put more money in pockets of small businesses, more money in the pockets of employees, and more money into the state of Montana, it’s a good situation for everybody.”

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Colleges Step Up, Help Students With Extra Financial Aid

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:13:00 GMT

If recent data is any indication, families are struggling to come up with the cash they need to send their children to college, and schools across the country are doing something to help those who’ve come up short, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Colleges Offer Extra Aid to Strapped Students,” Jan. 9, 2009).

During the first few days of the new financial aid season that began Jan. 1 — the first day college students could submit their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), the application required for students seeking federal aid — 40 percent more families over the previous year had already sought out financial assistance (“Families Face Fierce Competition for Student Aid: Season Starts With Sharp Increase in Demand,” Business Wire, Jan. 6, 2009).

“The demand for student aid has been climbing as the recession batters family budgets, parents’ jobs are eliminated, and self- employed parents experience business downturns,” said Craig Carroll, CEO of Student Financial Aid Services, a financial aid advisory company.

Schools Create New Aid Programs or Beef Up Existing Ones

In response to the growing number of families facing limited options to pay for college, some schools are offering families an extended grace period to pay tuition bills, and other schools are meeting the growing demand for aid by expanding existing financial aid programs or creating new ones.

At Northern Illinois University, for instance, school administrators recently introduced the Huskie Advantage, a new aid program that meets tuition costs not covered by state and federal aid. The program, which the school will subsidize by shifting financial funds away from upperclassmen to underclassmen, who usually don’t qualify for as much federal aid, is only available to freshmen who qualify for Pell Grants and need-based state grants, according to Brent Gage, the school’s assistant vice provost for enrollment services.

Agnes Scott College in Georgia also recently announced a new program, the Agnes Solution, targeted at students who are eligible for the state’s Hope Scholarship. The school hopes that by providing qualified students with a $13,500 Agnes Solution scholarship and a $3,000 grant each year, combined with the $3,000 Hope Scholarship, the program will be able to cut the cost of attendance almost in half.

As part of a Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota plan to lower the cost of attendance for low- and middle-income students to match the average cost of the nation’s Big Ten universities, the school is expanding its Brother James Miller Program for Access. The program originally only covered students who met certain academic qualifications and whose families made less than $75,000, but due to the economic downturn, the institution has raised the income qualification to $100,000, and is currently collecting private funds so that it may provide aid for the school’s most financially needy students.

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Connecticut Credit Unions Begin Offering Low-Interest Student Loans

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:04:00 GMT

To help ensure that Connecticut students continue to have access to higher education in today’s economy, Governor M. Jodi Rell recently announced a new $17.5 million initiative that will help students obtain college loans at interest rates as low as 5.75 percent, reports TheDay.com (“Lending a Hand,” Dec. 14, 2008).

The new program, a partnership between the governor’s office and the Credit Union League of Connecticut, enables both incoming and current college students to take out loans at rates between 5.75 percent and 6.0 percent from approximately 18 state credit unions, with funds partially guaranteed by the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (“Governor Rell Announces New College Student Loan Program With State Credit Unions,” StamfordPlus.com, Nov. 18, 2008).

“Household budgets are already strained by the effects of our struggling national economy,” Governor Rell said. “Many families have seen the funds they set aside for college evaporate — and they are now hard-pressed to come up with tuition for their children.”

Rell said under the program, which is a first for the state, loans are made available to families who wouldn’t typically qualify for traditional student loans as well as those who have depleted their financial resources and are struggling to find a way to cover college costs.

Credit Unions Uniquely Positioned To Offer Student Loans

To participate in the program, which will run for a full year and may be further extended depending on demand and available resources, credit unions must have allocated a minimum of $100,000.

At Ledge Light Credit Union, one of the participating institutions, students may borrow up to $35,000, and in some instances, defer their principal and interest for several years while attending school, said Bruce Fafard, president and CEO of Ledge Light. Fafard pointed out that many of his customers who had previously expressed interest in student loans from his institution may now be able to get the financial help they need.

With many of the conventional sources of college student loans disappearing, said Jim Metcalf, Ledge Light’s vice president of marketing and business development, “There's a big need out there for exactly what we’re rolling out.”

The governor says helping Connecticut families obtain loans for college is one of the ways in which the state maintains one of the most educated labor forces in the nation, a factor that may ultimately help the state attract more business, create more jobs, and improve its economy.

“This program will be another financial resource for our families and it will serve important needs that in many cases are currently unmet by existing loan programs,” Rell said.

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Colleges Want Piece of Federal Government’s “Bailout Pie”

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:17:00 GMT

With 39 states anticipating budget shortfalls next year totaling more than $100 billion, colleges are urging Congress to include them in a second economic stimulus bill currently being drafted, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (“As the Economic Crisis Hits Home, Colleges Seek Help From Congress,” Nov. 13, 2008).

Hard hit by the deteriorating economy and financial markets, many schools are dealing with declining endowments, reduced support from the state, and higher numbers of financially needy students. To help schools overcome these challenges, college lobbyists are asking Congress to include funds for financial aid, research, and infrastructure as part of the new economic-stimulus bill.

The Association of American Universities and the American Association of Medical Colleges are specifically lobbying Congress for more money for research, emphasizing the ways colleges support the economy by creating new jobs, graduating work-ready students, and promoting business development.

In a recent letter from the AAMC quantifying its claims, the organization stated that medical colleges were responsible for about 3 million jobs, $20 billion in state tax revenue and injected $451 billion into the economy last year.

Billions Requested by College Associations

Many college associations representing a wide array of interests have petitioned Congress for several billion dollars, each for distinct purposes:

The AAMC is requesting $1.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health.
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Student Aid Alliance are asking for more than $5 billion to make up for a projected shortfall in Pell Grant funding and for Congress to provide enough funding to meet a recently passed $500 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award.
The Association of American Universities wants bailout money set aside for campus construction projects that have halted across the nation.

In their pursuit of funds, schools are competing with state governments, as well as the ailing airline and auto industries. And with the transfer of power on January 20, 2009 from the current Bush administration to the Obama administration, schools may have to wait until February or later to see if they get the capital infusion they seek.

With so many urgent needs confronting Congress — including the possible collapse of Ford, Chrysler and GM, and the loss of millions of jobs if the automakers don’t receive $25 billion in emergency government loans — colleges realize that they aren’t likely a top priority to receive government aid, the Chronicle suggests.

Cynthia Littlefield, director of federal relations at the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities said, “There are so many people going to the trough who have legitimate needs that it’s going to be hard.”

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Student Correspondents to Get National Exposure as ABC News Launches College Campus News Bureaus

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:08:00 GMT

In an effort to reach younger viewers, ABC News plans to open five multimedia news bureaus on select college campuses this fall.

Students at Arizona State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Texas at Austin will have their work featured on various ABC News outlets, including “Good Morning America,” “World News With Charles Gibson,” and “Nightline,” as well as on ABC News Radio and ABCNews.com.

Students selected as bureau chiefs will receive on-site training at ABC News headquarters in New York.

The network hopes its college initiative will provide greater insight into the lives of the prized demographic of 33 million 18-to-25-year-olds living in the United States.

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