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.
In an attempt to help lenders be able to continue making new federal student loans, the government included a provision in the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, signed into law in May, aimed at providing capital for cash-strapped lenders.
Under this legislation, the Department of Education can buy federal college loans from lenders, thereby providing these lenders with the liquidity they need to continue funding new parent and student loans. The law specifically targets lenders who, in the current credit crunch, are unable to find investors in the secondary market willing to purchase their student loan portfolios.
Even with this legislation in place, however, lenders continue to find themselves forced to suspend their student loan programs. As recently as July 28, the Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., the 26th-largest originator of federal student loans in 2007, and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, the largest student loan issuer to Massachusetts residents, both announced that they would no longer be able to provide either new or current borrowers with student loans.
As the suspensions of both federal and private student loan programs keep spreading through all types of lenders — large and small; for-profit and nonprofit; banks, non-banks, and credit unions; state loan agencies and schools-as-lenders — students and their families are finding themselves with fewer borrowing options to get the parent and student loans they need to pay the fall tuition bills that are coming due over these next few weeks.
Two Major Lenders the Latest Casualties of Student Loan Crisis
The Brazos Group, a primarily nonprofit group of higher education lending, servicing, and other financial aid companies, first announced that it would stop offering federal college loans back n March. In May, however, after the government passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, Brazos once again began offering federal parent and student loans, saying that the government’s short-term liquidity plan had renewed the organization’s confidence in its ability to continue offering student loans.
But Brazos once again suspended its education lending program late last month, citing continued turmoil in the student loan industry.
Brazos Executive Vice President Ellis Tredway said his organization simply “ran out of time to get everything in place” to issue new student loans for the fall.
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, which issued more than $500 million in college loans to 40,000 Massachusetts college students and their families last year, had already suspended its federal student loan program in April. Now, MEFA has also pulled the plug on its non-federal private loan program, which provided Massachusetts students with fixed-rate private student loans.
“While we continue to pursue every possible option, raising the necessary funds to offer fixed–interest rate private education loans is taking longer than originally projected and has become even more challenging,” said Tom Graf, MEFA’s executive director.
Students Face the Uncertainty of Switching Lenders
With over 8 million students and parents having turned to federal college loans in 2006–07, according to the College Board, the number or families that stand to be affected by the ongoing wave of lender departures this year is not unsubstantial.
Last week, financial aid officers at Texas A&M University — a school with over 54,000 students — heard from seven different lenders warning that they would no longer be able to offer federal student loans, a situation that has made more than a few borrowers uneasy.
Dyneche Duffield, an incoming college student headed to Houston Baptist University, is uncomfortable with the prospect of having to establish a relationship with a new lender other than her local bank, which used to offer student loans.
“I would have much rather taken out a loan there than somewhere where I didn’t know anyone,” Duffield said.
While students like Duffield may still be able to go directly to the Department of Education for their federal college loans or find those remaining lenders who are still offering private student loans (albeit with more stringent credit criteria that are making it harder for students to qualify), the magnitude of the problem within the student loan credit markets and how deeply it has permeated the college loan industry is alarming to many administrators and officials in higher education.
Kathryn Osmond, executive director of student financial services at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, finds the situation with MEFA to be particularly indicative of a long-lasting and serious problem.
“An economy that is in such a tailspin that it affects a critical agency like MEFA,” said Osmond, “is an economy that scares me.”
By: Jeff Mictabor
The Ins and Outs of Student Loans
(c) 2008 Vernon DeFlanders
In our day when a bachelor’s degree doesn’t get you all that much any more, students are being taken advantage of. I can understand higher prices for graduate school, but the undergrad prices are absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Current first-year students had been expected to graduate in 2011 with an average loan obligation of $21,000 a number that would have continued to increase for subsequent classes. But by converting loans to grants, Bowdoin will eliminate a significant debt burden for next year’s entering class while capping debt at current levels for continuing students. So the future, we could see Sharia student loans that work like venture capital. The lender would get a cut of the student’s future earnings.
A student that gets a federal student loan made directly to them must be a half or full time student attending university or college. Payment does not start until they drop to less than a half time student or finish school. Loans that parents take have a much higher limit but payment for these federal student loans starts immediately. Interest begins to accrue immediately on private student loans made to parents or students but the limits are higher and after graduation, payments start. Between tuition, room and board, books, and other necessary items, many students find themselves short of the final total. One way to save money when searching for a college education is to choose the institution wisely. Financial note: Alternative college student loan financing is based largely on an individual’s and/or cosigner’s FICO score. Generally speaking, the higher the FICO score the lower the interest rate will likely be.
During college or university, student loans continue to accumulate posing a very unnerving picture when the time comes for the students to start paying them back. Freshly out of college or university after completing their education, it can be very difficult to start making monthly repayments on loans, other debts and student loans. Most graduates have to work their way up into high paying jobs but still need money during this time for accommodation, food, clothing, transport, other items and loan repayments. It is inconvenient, problematic, and expensive to make student loan repayments along with other debts such as other loans, overdraft and credit card debts.
One of the easiest and best alternatives for paying back several loans plus the interest is to consolidate all the loans and increase the repayment length. A student loans debt consolidation program helps a graduate by adding the loans together resulting in only one payment instead of three, four or more payments. This also drops the interest rate and reduces the payment amount. It is very difficult paying multiple lenders at once not only financially but because it is easier to miss a payment accidentally.
Consolidating your student loans generally means one lender will group together your various loans and lock them in at a new, fixed rate. Many people who consolidate their loans appreciate having only one bill to pay every month as well as the knowledge that their rates won’t change over time. Also, students loans are not enforceable when the school has closed prior to the student completing his education. These challenges could be raised in a Chapter 13 proceeding and decided by a bankruptcy judge. There’s just one number to call to change your address or student status, or request deferment forms. The variable interest rate will never exceed 8.25 percent and may be lower during in-school, grace and deferment periods.
Agencies may also use student loan repayment benefits in conjunction with a physicians’ comparability allowance (PCA). However, 5 CFR 595.105(e) requires that the amount of the PCA be reduced by the amount of the student loan repayment. You can repay on an “income-contingent” basis, meaning your financial income will determine the amount of your monthly payments. Our international student loan program requires a US co-signer and is available for both graduate and undergraduate study. Also, we would like to provide you with some very important information regarding federal student loan consolidation. You must consolidate during your grace period to avoid an interest rate increase of 0.60%. Compare and apply for student loans from multiple lenders to make the best education financing choice for you and your family. We understand that students need the most affordable student loan rates on the market, access to true professionals that enjoy helping others, and repayment flexibility. Join thousands of other students and graduates today and get the peace of mind that comes with financing your education through a world-class lender like ScholarPoint.
By: Vernon DeFlanders
Student Loan Consolidation Centers Should Have Common Options
A Student Loan Consolidation Center allows you to bring together several types of federal student loans with numerous repayment schedules into one loan with one monthly repayment. For example the executives at Chase Student loans centre and other companies like them target student loans for those with bad credit for college and graduate students, GE makes literature on its loans available to students at every grade level.
This section will shine a light on other sources of student loans with bad credit. There are a number of major lenders in the Student Loans Consolidation markets. It is best to search for student loan consolidation centers which offer minimal rates of interest. A student is qualified for a maximum of 1 percent reduction on the interest rate, if he pays on time for thirty six consecutive payments. While still attending school, students having federal direct loans are able to consolidate by means of the federal consolidation program provided by the government. Even student loans with bad credit options can be challenging to repay.
Most student consolidation loans fall into two categories. They are government student loans and private student loans. Student consolidation loan centers provide loans such as federal, Stafford, professional student loans, nursing student loans etc. The government loan consolidation centre is providing a student loan consolidation program which allows students to consolidate outstanding education loans into a single brand new loan. This is not limited to a single lender. Even if multiple lenders hold the loans, one can still opt to consolidate. After doing some research you will find that Student Loans Centre’s have unique programs and loan opportunities available. For example the lenders at Citizens Bank defer payment on their student loans during the first 6 months after the student has graduated, or has otherwise stopped attending classes.
Two popular online student consolidation loan centers are Internet student loans centre and US student loan consolidation centre. Next student is another popular student loan consolidating centre. It offers student loan payments lower by up to 60% or more. Sallie Mae loan consolidation centre offers federal consolidation loans. The Citibank student loan centre corporation is giving federal and private loan consolidation. Wachovia student consolidating loan centre is giving federal Stafford loans.
Students must only consolidate loans which are of variable or changing rates such as the Stafford Loans. Never consolidate on fixed-rate loans such as Perkins loans as there won’t be any financial benefit. Interest rates for college students who are already adults or on their way to sixth month grace period will be higher.
By: Troy Morrow