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 large proportion of students who only take out non-federal private student loans to finance their education aren’t applying for federal financial aid at all, and it’s the application itself that may be culprit, a new study suggests (“Nightmare Application May Be Driving Students to Costly Loans,” Forbes, June 9, 2009). In his study of 250,000 ...

To combat one of the most severe budget crises in its recent history, the state of Arizona is considering opening a fourth major university or converting an existing community college into a four-year school, The Arizona Republic reports (“Regents’ Plan: A New College,” May 6, 2009). State legislators and Gov. Jan Brewer are pressing the ...

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 ...

According to analysis of Department of Education data released last week, the number of college students taking out private student loans over the last five years has risen sharply. Analysis by student advocacy group The Project on Student Debt revealed that the percentage of all undergraduates who took out private student loans last school ...

Judah Lakin, a Rhode Island high school teacher, spends much of his time trying to help his students prepare for college. But even if his students have what it takes to pursue a higher education, many of them are undocumented immigrants and will never step foot on a college campus because they don’t have access to federal financial aid or ...

At a time when large numbers of lenders exiting the student loan marketplace has made it more difficult for international students to find college and graduate school funding, Harvard has announced an exclusive agreement with JPMorgan Chase that will allow the school’s international graduate students to borrow up to the full cost ...

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, ...

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 ...