Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.
federal student loans
July 7, 2015
How Much Parents and Students Are Borrowing for College
As recently as the early 1990s, most students did not take out college loans. Today nearly 71% of students borrow to pay for college. The typical student borrower graduating with the class of 2015 left college with an average debt of $35,051, according to an analysis by Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Edvisors.com. In Kantrowitz’s chart below, you will see that the...
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March 21, 2014
Who Isn’t Filing the FAFSA?
If you have a child in college or heading there this fall, have you filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid yet? Many parents never do file it. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education less than 55% of high school seniors compete the FAFSA. That’s a depressing statistic when you consider that low and middle-income students...
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July 24, 2012
A Great Website Remodel for Families
I’ve been linking my posts to the federal student aid sites for years, but I haven’t done it with any enthusiasm. These websites, which have included information about federal student loans and grants, have been disjointed and borderline unhelpful. The websites reeked of bureaucratic jargon and didn’t provide any context for federal aid programs. I felt sorry for the parents...
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July 24, 2012
A Great Website Remodel for Families
I’ve been linking my posts to the federal student aid sites for years, but I haven’t done it with any enthusiasm. These websites, which have included information about federal student loans and grants, have been disjointed and borderline unhelpful. The websites reeked of bureaucratic jargon and didn’t provide any context for federal aid programs. I felt sorry for the parents...
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June 1, 2011
What Is the Best Student Loan?
What is the best student loan? I got an email from a dad who was hoping to get the answer to that question. His son needs to borrow for the last year of college. That was an easy question to answer. The best education loan available is the federal Stafford Loan. There are two types of Stafford loans: subsidized and...
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April 8, 2011
When You Don’t Have Enough Money for College
I’ve had a lot of parents asking me lately about whether they should give the green light to their children, who have been accepted into expensive schools without enough financial aid. In response, I want to share a cautionary post that I wrote for my other college blog over at CBS MoneyWatch. Here is part of that post: Here is...
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March 25, 2011
Parents Borrowing for College
Are you a parent looking for a college loan? Most of the press attention is focused on college loans that students take out, but there are parent loans as well. Today, I’m going to focus on PLUS Loans and home equity lines. PLUS Loan For parents, the federal government offers PLUS Loans. At first blush, the terms won’t look so...
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March 22, 2011
Stafford Loans: Borrowing for College
It’s that time of year when parents, as well as new and returning college students, start thinking about college loans. Consequently, today I want to answer a few questions about Stafford Loans, which are the most popular federal student loans. Here are the questions: Question No. 1: Are there different kinds of Stafford Loans? Yes. There are unsubsidized Stafford...
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September 22, 2009
Kicking Private Student Loan Lenders to the Curb
Tell me if this makes sense: When private lenders got into the federal student loan business years ago, the federal government guaranteed that it would step in when student borrowers defaulted on their federal loans. The government (us taxpayers) also gave the student loan lenders a fat subsidy to participate in this virtually risk-free business. You have no idea how...
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June 26, 2009
College News On the Weekend
I wanted to share with you three college posts that I wrote this week for my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch. Hope you enjoy them! 1. Shrinking Your Federal Student Loans A great federal program will begin this coming Wednesday that will provide relief to many borrowers who are struggling with repaying their federal student loans. 2. Declawing the FAFSA...
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