Student Loan Blog

A St. Peters, Mo. woman has been charged with seven counts of forgery for taking out $139,000 in student loans in two of her daughters’ names and for using her 71-year-old mother as a cosigner on the loans, all without consent. The woman, Cynthia Tiemann, forged seven student loan checks in order to feed a gambling addiction, The Associated ...

In economic downturns, colleges and universities become flooded with students of all ages looking to better prepare themselves for an increasingly competitive job market. But these schools haven’t been immune to the effects of today’s recession. Fortunately, for every recent economic downturn in higher education — tuition hikes, state budget ...

Looking at the growth of medical schools in the United States you’d never know America is in the middle of a recession. Even as the economy continues its downward spiral, medical schools are expanding, says Dr. J. James Rohack, president-elect of the American Medical Association. Whereas about 25 years ago medical schools ...

For the six-month period ending in December, college endowments nationwide lost an average of 24 percent, according to the nonprofit Commonfund Institute of Connecticut, forcing a handful of small regional universities to make significant cutbacks to their scholarship funds for the upcoming fall semester (“More Bad News on ...

Students attending Hartwick College in New York may now be able to save over $40,000 on their education by enrolling in a new three- year college degree program, according to a recent news release from the college (“Hartwick College Announces Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree,” Feb. 24, 2009). The new initiative will reduce ...

With more families applying for financial aid — applications are already up 10 percent above last year’s record — and lending for private student loans drying up, families’ ability to find available financial aid is becoming more difficult, reports the Associated Press (“College Financial Aid System Facing Stiff Test,” Jan. 25, ...

The University of California Irvine will usher in its first class of law school students this fall, none of whom will have to pay tuition for their first three years, reports The National Law Journal (“Irvine, Calif., Law School Gets New Name, Offers First Class Full Tuition Scholarships,” Oct. 22, 2008). Although the UC Irvine School of Law ...

A new plan unveiled Monday by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education calls for the state-supported colleges and universities in Indiana to graduate 10,000 more students with bachelor’s degrees each year — an increase of 33 percent — and to graduate these students in just four years, according to the Associated Press (“Indiana Seeks 10,000 ...

Starting July 1, 2009, sex offenders confined in treatment centers throughout the country may no longer be eligible to receive need-based federal Pell Grants, under a new provision of the reauthorized Higher Education Act, according to an article in the Associated Press (“Congress Cuts Off College Aid For Sex Offenders,” Aug. 4, 2008).President ...

The rising cost of food and gas has become so taxing for some students that food banks in college towns are beginning to see an influx of students, according to an Associated Press article (“Struggling College Students Turn to Food Banks,” July 26, 2008). The University District Food Bank located in a college neighborhood near the ...