Student Loan Blog

Vice President Joe Biden intends to make higher education a reality for more young people, the Associated Press reports, in part by closing the gap between families’ incomes and rising college costs (“Biden Wants to Make Higher Ed More Affordable,” USA Today, April 18, 2009). At a town hall–style meeting he hosted in St. Louis ...

Funding from President Obama’s stimulus plan will soon reach Oregon college students in the form of almost $280 million in Pell Grant funds, a 41-percent jump over the previous year, reports the Portland Business Journal (“Stimulus boosts Oregon Pell Grants to $279.4 million,” March 31, 2009). This funding boost will translate ...

Beginning this fall, incoming first-year students attending any of Nebraska’s three state colleges — Wayne State College, Peru State College, or Chadron State College — may see their dreams of a college education come true with a little help from the state, the Omaha World-Herald reports (“3 Colleges to Waive Tuition for Some ...

In spite of an increase to the maximum federal Pell Grant award of more than $800 — mandated by President Obama’s stimulus plan — Minnesota college students may not receive a single percent increase in funds due to the way the state distributes its Pell Grant awards, the Minnesota Daily reports (“Students Aren’t Guaranteed Pell ...

An additional 130,000 college work-study students may have jobs next year thanks to the economic-stimulus bill that President Obama just signed into law which allocates approximately $200 million in new funding for Federal Work-Study Programs, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Economic-Stimulus Law Creates Jobs for ...

It seems that everyone is getting a piece of the government’s “bailout pie,” including banks, automakers, and perhaps even the nation’s colleges and universities, although exactly how much schools will get and when they will get it has not yet been established, reports Inside Higher Ed (“Manna From Heaven (er, Washington),” Jan. 16, 2009). ...

Tuition increases at the nation’s colleges are inevitable. However, in the current economic climate — where states are slashing budgets to the bone — public colleges are being forced to raise tuition at rates that haven’t been seen in years, reports The Associated Press (“Families Await Sharpest Tuition Increases in Years,” ...

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 ...

In an audit of the Department of Education, the department’s own inspector general blames the lack of participation in the government’s Academic Competitiveness and National Smart Grant programs on his department’s failure to effectively promote the programs, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Education Dept. Blamed for ...

Under new federal legislation, many students at for-profit institutions have seen the amount of their Pell and federal student loan awards increase and a larger number these students have been able to cover all their college costs with just these two types of federal financial aid, according to an article in The Chronicle of ...