April 3, 2008 by Mara Strom Did you know that a Stafford or Perkins student loan is one of the only forms of debt that cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy claim? Student loans are with you for life – so you need to be serious about paying them back. If you haven’t paid back your loans for 270 days (and have not arranged for deferment or forbearance), then you’re in default. Three out of four people who default on their loans do so after dropping out of school. In addition to trashing your credit rating and bringing collection agencies to your front door, defaulting on your student loans entitles the government to intercept your tax returns and garner up to 15% of your take-home pay. Convinced that defaulting is serious? Here are 10 steps to prevent it: 1. Don’t bite off more ...

March 31, 2008 For families struggling to finance their children’s educational expenses, supplemental borrowing can be an important resource. Supplemental borrowing is particularly useful to those families that do not qualify for need-based financial aid or those families that qualify but whose financing needs are greater than their aid package. One of the most reliable sources of supplemental borrowing is the Federal Direct PLUS Loan. The PLUS, which stands for Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, is a federally-backed loan for parents paying for their dependent child’s undergraduate education. PLUS Advantages The advantages offered by the Federal Direct PLUS Loan include: • Federal backing, ensuring stability • Non-need based, only based on credit rating • ...

Physical Therapists May Soon Be Eligible For Loan Forgiveness Physical therapists might be enjoying some student debt relief in the near future if Congress gets its way. On February 7, the House approved The College Opportunity and Affordability Act, H.R. 4137, which would allow physical therapists to apply for student loan forgiveness. The wide-reaching Bill, introduced by Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), aims to overhaul the 1960s Higher Education Act and ensure better access to college education for all qualified Americans, especially those from low- and middle-income families. Among its many priorities, H.R. 4137 would provide service-based loan forgiveness as a means to encouraging students to enter “critically needed” fields. Physical therapy is now co...

Scholarships, Fellowships and Assistantships For Graduate Students Congratulations! You’ve (finally) finished your undergraduate degree and are ready to move on to grad school. If you thought tuition, fees, room and board were costly for your four-year school, then you are in for real sticker shock with graduate education. The good news is that unlike undergraduate students, grad students may be eligible for a host of school-based and outside funding opportunities specifically designed to support advanced education. These opportunities include work-based tuition-support programs, such as teaching assistantships and research assistantships; research fellowships; and graduate student scholarships. For more on navigating each of these funding opportunities, read on: Graduate Assis...

With fixed interest rates hovering around a thirty-year low, loan consolidation is on the tip of every borrower’s tongue. Even if you have not already consolidated your student loans, you’ve probably got a few friends who have and you’re likely considering it for yourself. Before you leap to refinance, though, take a look at this Guide to Loan Consolidation. The Basics of Loan Consolidation A student consolidation loan allows you to combine your existing variable-rate loans into one fixed-rate loan. Consolidating when interest rates are low, as they are now, may offer substantial savings in the lifetime costs of your loans. You can consolidate your loan with any authorized lender – i.e. you are not obligated to stay with the lender who originally made your loan....

It’s never too late to save for your children’s education. Even if your child is a teenager, save as much money as you can until they are ready to attend college. One way to save is with a 529 college savings plan. A 529 college savings plan is an investment plan that puts money aside for higher education, and can offset the amount needed in the form of college student loans. 529 plans offer a tax advantage to parents and other relatives that want to help a child go to college. All fifty states and the District of Columbia have their own 529 plan. To find out the requirements for the savings plan in your state, visit their website. There are two types of 529 plans. Pre-paid tuition plans let parents purchase tuition credits based on what the going rate is today and the plan...

One assumption made by financial aid recipients that needs clarification is the belief that loans are not considered financial assistance. In fact, the vast majority of financial aid dollars are disbursed to students in the form of loans. While federal and state governments do dish out plenty of grant and scholaship aid, loans (often termed “self-help aid, along with work study) are the cornerstone of the modern financial aid industry. This is an important distinction to make, particularly if you enter a post graduate program. As a graduate student, you will no longer be eligible for a Pell grant or any other federal grant aid. Aid eligibility for graduate students usually falls into three categories: loans, assistantships and fellowships. From the Department of Education, the only...

At senior high schools around the country, the financial aid night has become a common fall event. With financial aid becoming more complex, many high school counseling offices are wisely choosing to invite the experts in to discuss the details of applying for and accepting financial aid. One thing to remember is that if your high school does not offer such an event, you can most likely invite yourself to another local high school’s financial aid night. The information should be as relevant to you as if it were given to you by your own high school. A good financial aid presentation should go over the basic application process including the FAFSA on the web application. This is the critical piece of information but not the only information you need. Other topics that may be covere...

For students looking to find funds for their higher education, federal work study should be a consideration. According the the Federal government’s Department of Education, work study “provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. The program encourages community service work and work related to the recipient’s course of study.” In short, if your award letter indicates that you have “need” you are most likely eligible for work study. Although work study is a form if financial aid, it is administered like a regular form of employment. In other words, you will not be handed work study funds on disbursement day like your student loans and grants. You will,...

Since 2006, the ACG Grant (Academic Competitiveness Grant) and the SMART Grant (National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant), have been available to Pell eligible students who meet certain additional criteria. As these new federal grant programs begin to unfold, continued guidance from the Department of Education have clarified certain requirements for eligibility. ACG students must be Pell eligible per the FAFSA application and have completed a ‘rigorous secondary school program”. This requirement has been defined in recent weeks to include three different options. The criteria can be met by 1) Completing a Secretary of Education’s Recognized Program, 2) Passing 2 AP courses with an AP test score of at least 3, or 2 IB courses with an IB test score...