Student Loan Blog

In another move to restructure the federal financial aid system, President Obama has proposed ending the government’s five-year foray into merit-based student aid and redirecting those financial aid funds to the need-based Pell Grant program, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“An Experiment in Merit-Based Student Aid Is Likely to End,” ...

A bill to overhaul the student loan industry may reach Congress as early as next week; education-committee chairs are working behind the scenes on a piece of legislation that would eliminate the third-party student loan system called the Federal Family Education Loan Program, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (“Behind the Scenes, a ...

Although the government has taken steps to bolster the federal student loan program by expanding Pell Grant awards and raising the maximum award amount of federal Stafford student loans, federal financial aid will still not be enough for many families to pay for college this year. Grappling with stock market losses that have negatively affected ...

The College Board — an organization of some 5,000 colleges best known for its college admission tests — has petitioned Congress to allow students who are undocumented immigrants to qualify for tuition aid and citizenship, The Associated Press reports (“U.S. Colleges Push Tuition Aid for Immigrants,” April 21, 2009). While undocumented ...

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 ...

Just days after President Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill into law, House Democrats have reintroduced a $410 billion overdue appropriations measure that would finance dozens of federal agencies and programs, including many related to higher education, whose budgets went unapproved during the last session of Congress, ...

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 ...

A California community college is being investigated by the FBI and the Department of Education for overpaying students more than $327,000 in financial aid during the 2005–06 school year, reports the Contra Costa Times (“Berkeley City College Overpaid Financial Aid,” Oct. 8, 2008).Berkeley City College, under former financial aid director Robert ...

Without additional taxpayer funds next year, the government’s “most important” federal financial aid program may be unable to provide Pell Grants to millions of eligible low-income students, likely pricing these students out of a higher education, according to an article in The New York Times (“Pell Grants Said to Face a Shortfall,” Sept. ...

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 ...