Student Loan Blog

An anonymous donor is playing secret Santa with at least a dozen colleges and universities nationwide, but instead of giving $5 trinkets this Santa has left schools with $1 million to $10 million gifts, The New York Times reports (“Anonymous Donor Gives Millions to Colleges,” April 24, 2009). Over the past two months the donor has given away ...

Some 1,500 Georgia high school students will not receive the state scholarship funds they were promised for becoming valedictorians or for graduating in the top of their class, The Associated Press reports (“Georgia Scholarships to End for 1,500 Students,” April 26, 2009). In a last-minute decision, state legislators cut the Governor’s ...

College students are piling up alarming amounts of credit card debt, according to a recent survey by student loan company Sallie Mae, which suggests that not only are more students relying on credit cards to pay for their rising college costs, but that more students are charging more frequently (“Average College Credit Card Debt Rises With ...

Students who want to maximize their federal financial aid for the 2009–10 academic year should fill out their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) this week — the first week applications are accepted, reports The Baltimore Sun (“Ringing in the New Year With FAFSA Might Be a Good Move for 2009,” Dec. 30, 2009). “The ...

To help ensure that low-income students can afford a college education in the midst of a recession, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committing nearly $70 million in grants toward its goal of doubling the number of low-income students who earn a college degree or vocational credential by age 26, The New York Times reports ...

After awarding more than 191 college scholarships over the past three years, a North Carolina scholarship program begun by former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is ending with the Class of 2009, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, (“John Edwards Ends Scholarship Program He Called a National Model,” August ...

Berea College is drawing the attention of lawmakers for its no-frills approach to education and its free tuition policy. The private Kentucky college — founded 150 years ago to educate freed slaves and “poor white mountaineers” — accepts only applicants from low-income families and charges no tuition, according to an article in The New York ...

Students who are eligible for a new scholarship program at Houston Community College could have up to two years of their college education paid for. To qualify for the scholarship program, students must be eligible to receive a Pell Grant, a form of federal financial aid that is offered to some of the nation’s most financially-needy students. ...

This year, college students who are still struggling to get the money they need to pay for school may be able to take advantage of a phenomenon, colleges and universities refer to as the “summer melt” — the phase where students make last-minute decisions not to attend a school because of high tuition costs. When that happens, schools are ...

Pennsylvania’s student-loan agency will cut college grant amounts for the 2008–09 academic year by up to $750 and will offer voluntary buyouts to some of its nonunion employees in an effort to keep the company afloat. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency will determine the adjusted grant amounts based on a recipient’s ...