Families who are a few years out from college should calculate their EFC, but as college approaches and students start identifying schools they’re interested in, net price calculators become far more valuable. There can be vast differences between EFC and net price, and even significant school-to-school differences in net price due to different aid policies. Continue reading EFC vs Net Cost
Category Archives: Student Loans
What to do this Summer
Another school year is drawing to a close, meaning that free time and mental bandwidth are about to become available for many students. Here are some things high school students may want to spend some time on this summer: Continue reading What to do this Summer
Manipulation of Student Loan Default Rates
A recent New York Times article brought attention to a GAO report about schools manipulating their cohort default rate data to avoid federal sanctions that can result from schools having too high a percentage of students default on their loans. Because cohort default rates are a metric I’ve encouraged prospective students to look at, I wanted to provide some additional detail. Continue reading Manipulation of Student Loan Default Rates
Interest Rates on Student Loans for 2018-2019
If you will be taking out loans to pay for college, you probably want to know what interest rate you’ll be paying. Unfortunately, the rates for the coming school year are not available yet. They’ll be set based on the 10-Year Treasury Note from the last auction Continue reading Interest Rates on Student Loans for 2018-2019
AAUW’s Student Debt Showdown
AAUW did their own version of March Madness, and the results are pretty interesting. They took the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament brackets and had the teams compete based on median student debt held by women upon leaving the institution. The results are of course quite different than the basketball games’ outcomes, with Duke winning the men’s bracket and Princeton the women’s.
Full details and results are here. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, check it out because it’s probably among the more entertaining ways to view student debt burdens by school.
Potential Changes to Federal Loan Programs
In late 2017 and early 2018 there was a flurry of news about plans to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which governs student loan programs among other things. Both the PROSPER Act which passed through committees in Congress in December and the White House budget proposal earlier this year called for changes to loan programs, especially the PLUS loan program. (PLUS loans are those used by parents and graduate students. Despite their relatively high interest rates– in the 7% range– they are an Continue reading Potential Changes to Federal Loan Programs
Feeling Guilty About College Savings?
If your college savings fund is generating negative emotions, you’re in good company: A recent survey by Student Loan Hero found that almost half of parents who are saving for their children’s college feel guilty about not saving enough. The survey also showed some rather worrying data: Continue reading Feeling Guilty About College Savings?
Student Loans by School
If you’ve been reading this for a while, you probably know I’m a huge fan of College Navigator as an information source. It’s run by the National Center for Education Statistics and has some information that any prospective student should be aware of. Last week I mentioned the loan default rate by school. Another affordability-related topic that prospective students should consider is the student body’s borrowing rate– also available on College Navigator. Continue reading Student Loans by School
Student Loan Default Rates
While you’re waiting for acceptances (seniors) or starting to get more serious about particular schools (everyone else), you might want to check out student loan default rates at the schools you’re interested in. Even if you’re not planning to borrow for college, the default rate can be an interesting number insofar as it is probably indicative of whether graduates of a particular school are finding gainful employment, particularly Continue reading Student Loan Default Rates
How Do Students End Up Owing So Much?
Most students and families don’t go into the college process intending to graduate with debt in the high five figures. So how does it happen? Here is a great article explaining common mistakes families make in the college planning process that lead to increased borrowing and debt loads.
