Student Loan Blog

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 ...

The largest university in the nation, Ohio State University, has taken steps to ensure that its students who rely on financial aid will still be able to complete their degree program in spite of the economic recession, the school announced in a press release this week (“Ohio State Assisting Students Facing Economic Difficulties,” Dec. 22, ...

As the economic downturn continues to impact families’ ability to pay for college, schools are redirecting their fundraising efforts to focus on financial aid, reports The Wall Street Journal (“Colleges Shift Donor Appeals Toward Student Aid,” Nov. 19, 2008). In order to help meet the increased demand for financial aid, some schools are ...

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. ...

Don Fenstermaker, the founder and CEO of NextStudent, will join noted names Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, and Kim Clark, senior writer for U.S. World & News Report, as one of only a few financial aid experts to give a live streaming video keynote presentation on college financing at today’s CollegeWeekLive event.CollegeWeekLive, ...

CollegeWeekLive, the largest virtual college fair on the Web, will offer students and parents the opportunity this week to interact live and online with a wide range of college planning and financial aid professionals, including admissions counselors, financial aid experts, and advisors from some of the top college financing companies in the ...

NextStudent has a sleek new website with upgraded features designed to offer you the most comprehensive and easy-to-use financial aid resource on the Web.We’ve simplified our online application to make applying for student loans even easier, whether you’re a parent, undergraduate, or graduate. Learn more about private student loans, Stafford ...

In what may be the largest gift ever donated to the nation’s community colleges, the San Francisco–based Bernard Osher Foundation recently announced that it has pledged up to $50 million to help needy students attending California’s two-year institutions, writes Matt Krupnick of The Mercury News (“Endowment to Aid Needy Students,” May 5, 2008).The ...

Wilkes University, a small, private school in northeastern Pennsylvania, is using a quirky new in-your-face $120,000 ad campaign to get the attention of today’s media- and marketing-savvy students.The university is plastering personalized messages on billboards, pizza boxes, gas pumps, and even on MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central to students it wants ...

  In December Harvard University announced it would begin offering increased financial aid to students of middle and upper-middle class families. Those families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 will only have to pay about 10 percent of their income, or no more than $18,000 of the $45,600 traditionally charged for tuition, Jonathan D. ...