Student Loan Blog

Harvard University’s whopping $34 billion endowment is declining in the current economic crisis, and the hits could keep coming, wrote university president, Drew Gilpin Faust, in a recent e-mail sent to students and employees (“A Sober Message From Harvard’s President,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 10, 2008). While it is not known ...

After years of ranking among the nation’s top five most expensive schools, Sarah Lawrence College — a private, liberal arts school in Bronxville, New York with a tuition price tag of more than $53,000 a year — is now the priciest school in America, beating out George Washington University and New York University, according to a new College ...

College employees have given eight times as much money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign — $12.2 million — as they have to John McCain’s — just over $1.5 million, making it the widest gap in donations by academics in the past five presidential elections, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Obama, who ...

Citibank announced it is canceling its private student loan program for international students in an effort to minimize its financial risk during the global financial crisis, Bloomberg reports (“Citigroup Curbs Foreign-Student Loans at Harvard, MIT, Michigan,” Oct. 15, 2008). The lender’s CitiAssist private student loan program allowed ...

The colleges and universities that use students’ SAT and ACT standardized test scores when making college admissions and financial aid decisions should base these decisions on tests that more closely reflect a student’s high school achievement and understanding of the high school curriculum, according to the recommendations made by a new ...

A Harvard University education professor is challenging undergraduates at elite colleges to forgo high-paying consulting and finance jobs, for careers in public service. The professor, Howard Gardner, is leading seminars at Harvard and, Amherst College in Massachusetts, and Colby College in Maine, to encourage undergraduates to reflect more ...

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud, a member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, has endowed $31 million to Britain’s Cambridge and Edinburgh universities to create research centers devoted to Islamic studies. The two academic centers will focus on projects designed to encourage understanding between Islamic and Western ...

Recently, Harvard University alumnus David Rockefeller, announced that he will be giving his alma mater the single largest gift from a former student ever, writes Stephanie Strom of The New York Times, (“Rockefeller Gives Harvard $100 Million,” April 25, 2008).The $100 million gift will be added to the school’s $35 million endowment, the largest ...