Jeff Mictabor's Articles in Finance - Article Wisdom, the Article Database

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With College Come Financial Responsibilities Between homework, tests, class schedules, a part-time job, and the pressure to maintain acceptable grades, college thrusts students into a world of increased responsibilities. And financial responsibility, the one that could most affect you in the long run, often gets lost in the crazy shuffle of your college life. Student Loan Consolidation: Make Your Student Loan Repayment Easier to Manage Are you a May graduate with student loans looking at six-month grace periods that are ending sometime this month? If you’ve got multiple student loans going out of grace and into repayment, you’ll soon be faced with trying to juggle multiple bills, multiple due dates, and multiple monthly payments. Having Trouble With Your Student Loan Payments? Look Into Your Deferment and Forbearance Options If you just graduated in May with federal Stafford student loans, you may be having to adjust your monthly budget to accommodate new student loan payments as your Stafford six-month grace periods end sometime this month. College Admissions: The Common Application, Rolling Admissions, and Early Admissions You may be the type of student who’s excited about the college admissions process; you enjoy writing your personal essays, you look at each form you fill out as putting you another page closer to starting a new chapter in your life. Student Loan Consolidation: Replace Your Variable-Rate Student Loans With One Fixed-Rate Loan If you’re a parent or ex-student who took out any Federal PLUS Loans or Stafford Loans prior to July 1, 2006, those student loans are subject to variable interest rates that will adjust every year. When interest rates rise, your monthly student loan payments may also go up. If you’re on a tight budget, higher monthly payments may prove difficult to manage. Student Loans: Cut Monthly Payments on Your Student Loans by up to 42% If you’re a graduate or college parent with any outstanding federal student loans, you may be able to lower your monthly student loan payments by up to 42% just by consolidating your parent or student loans. Max Out Your Financial Aid: Get Your FAFSA Done Early Several schools are seeing a record-breaking number of college applications this year, The New York Times reported today, with the competition for open spots more fierce than ever. Student Loan Consolidation May Get You up to 20 More Years to Pay Off Your Student Loans If you’re a former student or a college parent with any outstanding federal student loans, you may be able to get up to 20 more years to repay just by consolidating your eligible federal parent or student loans. U.S. Falls Behind Rest of World in College Degree Attainment The United States continues to lag behind other major industrialized nations in the percentage of the population with a college degree, according to a recent series of studies released by the Making Opportunity Affordable project. Saving on College Tuition While tuition and fees have risen over the last decade at all types of colleges and universities, these costs have gone up the least at two-year schools, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Financial Aid 411: Know the Ground Rules for Paying for College With college tuition prices on a steady incline that’s outstripping inflation, more and more students may need to rely on financial aid to help pay for school. Top-Rated Online Colleges of 2008 Offer Financial Aid to Most Students If your schedule demands flexibility, convenience and round-the-clock availability, an online college degree program might be able to accommodate you in ways that a brick-and-mortar school can’t. Concerns About College Costs Shaping More Students’ Decisions Freshman concerns about college affordability are at a 35-year high, according to a recent survey by the Higher Education Research Institute. Increase in ‘Stealth Applicants’ May Be Affecting Acceptance Rates “Stealth applicants” is the term colleges and universities use to refer to those students whose first communication with a school comes via their admissions application. An increase in these “out-of-the-blue” applicants has thrown off schools’ ability to accurately predict the number of applications they will receive and has caused some schools to adjust their traditional admissions practices. Abating Concerns Over Student Loan Availability Replaced With Multi-Lender Confusion On May 7, 2008, President Bush signed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, a bill intended to keep federal student loans readily available for the 17 million students headed to college in the fall. While the new legislation allows the federal government to help out struggling student loan lenders and raises borrowing limits on some federal student loans, the problems in the student loan industry may be far from over. New Program Erases Student Loan Debt After 10 Years of Public Service Jeff Mictabor is an enthusiast on the topic of student loan issues in the news. He has been writing for the past 10 years for a variety of education publications. He now offers his writing services on a freelance basis. Students Scramble to Find Student Loans as Fall Semester Draws Near It’s crunch time for college students trying to secure the money they need for the fall semester. But with lenders continuing to suspend their student loan programs — the count now stands at 131 federal loan lenders and 30 private loan lenders — students may find themselves challenged to locate lenders that are still offering federal or private student loans. 17% Swell in College Financial Aid Submissions Hints at Economy’s Effect on Families More families are appealing to the federal government for help this year in paying for college, as parents face a shrinking job market, record-high food and gas prices, and tightened borrowing restrictions that have grown out of the current credit crisis.

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