Student Loan Blog

Last summer Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland offered American military veterans worldwide a no-cost education at any of Ohio’s public colleges. The state has just now finished tallying its number of veteran students in preparation for the program’s Aug. 1, 2009 start date, the same day the new GI Bill goes into effect, reports ...

Some 1,500 Georgia high school students will not receive the state scholarship funds they were promised for becoming valedictorians or for graduating in the top of their class, The Associated Press reports (“Georgia Scholarships to End for 1,500 Students,” April 26, 2009). In a last-minute decision, state legislators cut the Governor’s ...

College students are piling up alarming amounts of credit card debt, according to a recent survey by student loan company Sallie Mae, which suggests that not only are more students relying on credit cards to pay for their rising college costs, but that more students are charging more frequently (“Average College Credit Card Debt Rises With ...

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 ...

Public colleges and universities are experiencing a greater influx of transfer applications from private school students as the flagging economy heightens students’ concerns about their ability to pay for college, Bloomberg reports (“Rutgers Sees 50% Jump in Transfers as Economy Sours,” March 5, 2009). “Students seem to be price shopping,” said ...

The University of California is considering a program which would offer certain students free tuition, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“U. of California to Consider Covering Tuition for Families Below State’s Median Income,” Jan. 22, 2009). As part of a series of measures intended to “broaden the reach of the ...

Americans could see more college closures, particularly among small schools with shrinking enrollment numbers as the slowing economy continues to claim more victims across every sector, The Associated Press reports (“College Closings Rare, but Could Rise in Downturn,” Nov, 17, 2008). While the American Council on Education reported that only ...

Paying for college definitely isn’t getting any easier. “It just seems like it’s really hard, because it is,” says Diana Jacobs, a mother of twin, college seniors, whose husband recently lost his job, forcing the family to go from borrowing modestly to maxing out their student loan amounts (“In Downturn Families Strain to Pay Tuition,” The New ...

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. ...

Unable to afford the out-of-state tuition fees that Arizona state law requires non-legal U.S. citizens to pay, nearly 5,000 undocumented college students have dropped out of school over the last year, according to an article in the Arizona Daily Star (“Illegal College Students Dropping Out,” Aug. 24, 2008). Under Proposition 300, ...