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,” ...

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 ...

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, ...

With more families applying for financial aid — applications are already up 10 percent above last year’s record — and lending for private student loans drying up, families’ ability to find available financial aid is becoming more difficult, reports the Associated Press (“College Financial Aid System Facing Stiff Test,” Jan. 25, ...

While numerous nonprofit colleges have halted construction and are undergoing hiring freezes and other cutbacks due to the declining economy, for-profit colleges are seeing higher enrollment numbers and higher profit margins (“Economic Downturn Is a Boon for For- Profit Colleges,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 10, ...

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. ...

While college enrollment is only expected to grow by 300,000 students this year, some 1.3 million additional college students have already applied for federal financial aid — an increase of 17 percent, according to an article in U.S. News World Report (“Financial Aid Applications Jump 17 Percent,” Aug. 11, 2008). The U.S. Department of ...

During the 2005–06 academic year, 75 percent of the 2.7 million full-time undergraduates pursuing a program certification or a bachelor’s degree for the first time received one or more types of financial aid, according to a new report on enrollment in postsecondary institutions by the National Center for Education Statistics. The report ...

Grants are an important source of funding for any institution and organization in need of money. Not only do grants help students defray the cost of attendance, they also help colleges keep their tuition costs in check because awarded funds can help strengthen developing academic programs.   According to a Jan. 30, 2007 article written by ...

College students across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they pack their bags to head home or shift gears from the pressures of finals to the excitement of winter break.   This is the time of year when many students examine their finances and suddenly realize they need precious cash to go out with old friends at ...