Student loans are becoming the signature of our generation as droves of students are graduating with thousands of dollars in debt. At this point, the rising cost of tuition is making once affordable public schools hard to attend without taking on some form of assistance. The numbers prove it, too. According to the Project on […]
There were five years of my life where I performed an annual ritual: filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA for short). The FAFSA is how you put your hat in the ring if you want the federal government to help you pay for college. Filling out this form is about more than just getting […]
After graduating from college with student loan debt, it can be difficult to come to terms with the debt repayment schedule. If you’re like me, you might even be surprised by how much interest had accrued while you were in school, or shocked by how much money you actually owe. Student loans, while often considered the […]
In 2001, I graduated from college with about $22,000 in student loans. The bulk of my debt ($20,000) was from a federal loan, but I also had a small $2,000 private loan. Despite the fact that my private loan was a tenth the size of my federal loan, it was the much bigger headache producer […]
Unless Congress acts, and the President signs off on it, interest rates on federally subsidized student loans are set to rise to 6.8% on July 1, 2013. That’s double the current rate of 3.4%. For graduates repaying their loans, that could mean a significant increase in monthly payments. If your budget is already stretched, and […]
I consolidated my undergraduate loans in 2003, which in some ways was the golden age of student loan consolidation. Back then, consolidating was a solid method for reducing interest rates, reducing monthly payments, and taking advantage of lender discounts. Unfortunately, there have been many changes to the regulations governing student loan consolidations since then. Consolidating […]
