Wednesday, January 17, 2007

6 Reasons Why Today's Halving the Student Loan Rate is a Bad Idea

The Heritage Foundation has a great article on why the legislation scheduled today to be passed is a bad idea.

1) Federal spending on student financial aid is already skyrocketing.
2) Students already have many options for federal grants and low-interest loans.
3) Student aid subsidies are already set to increase much further.
4) Tuition costs rise with financial aid.
5) Lower interest rates will not increase access to college.
6) Most college graduates can afford to repay their student loans.

Rather than providing billions in new federal subsidies, Congress should instead focus on the fundamental problem of college affordability: out-of-control higher education costs. Congress should determine whether ever-increasing federal subsidies for higher education contribute to increasing college costs.

Reference
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm1308.cfm

Monday, January 15, 2007

Financial Aid Hymn ;-)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Email or YouTube me your student loan stories

If you have a gripe about your student loan, email me your story at studentdebt@gmail.com.
Better yet! Make a YouTube video and I'll post it on this blog.

Email me at studentdebt@gmail.com when you get your video up on YouTube.

Along with any rant you might have, try to answer these questions in your video clip:
1) How much was your original student loan ?

2) Has the benefits of the loan outweighed the troubles ?

3) What personal problems has student loan debt caused in your life ?

4) If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently ?

5) How much left do you have to pay off ?

First 100 Hour Plan for the Democrats

Check out this U.S. House of Representatives Vote Schedule for January.

http://www.student-loan-blues.com/wp-includes/images/100hourscalendar.pdf

Cutting student loan interest rates is due for a vote next Wednesday on January 17th !

In memory of Robert T. Stafford

Stafford

Former Sen. Robert T. Stafford, R-Vt., who was such a champion of the federal student-loan program that his colleagues eventually named it in his honor, died Dec. 23 at the age of 93.

Mr. Stafford, who chaired the Education, Arts, and Humanities Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee from 1981 to 1987, was known as a moderate lawmaker and a strong advocate for education and the environment. He had a close working relationship with then-Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., the namesake of the primary federal student-grant program in higher education ...


(Source: Education Week)

Backdating Stock Options

While not necessarily illegal, the unethical practice of backdating stock options for "favorable grant dates" has been uncovered at Affiliated Computer Services Inc. CEO Mark King and CFO Warren Edwards were sent walking after an investigation found they had backdated stock options.

The entire business world is now facing this issue and many high profile executives have been put out on the street because of it. It is of no surprise that a student loan company has faced the same problem.

Source: Sun-Sentinel