Continuing its focus on problems with the servicing of private student loans, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday released an analysis of its voluntary request for information from the private student loan industry. The bureau was especially interested in information about how loan servicers process the payments of borrowers seeking to pay down their debt ahead of schedule. The CFPB has said it’s concerned that some loan servicers apply prepayments in a way that maximizes their profits but makes the cost of the loan more expensive for borrowers. Read more...

By Scott McLemee. The text in question appears a couple of times in the New Testament as part of what's usually called "the Lord's Prayer." The Book of Common Prayer, the older of the two volumes, renders one line of the prayer as "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." The KJV rendering says, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
To my ear, "trespasses" works better rhythmically, and it expresses the notion of "sin" or "offense" in a slightly more elegant manner. By contrast, "debt" or "debtor" expresses the same thought in a blunt and harsh way, and even conjures the old cartoon image of St. Peter recording good and evil deeds in a big ledger at the gates of heaven. Read more...

By John Morgan. A private college “supplied misleading information” that led to students wrongly gaining access to public-backed loans, according to the government.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills said today that it had never granted “designation” – giving students access to Student Loans Company funding – to ICE Academy’s campuses in Manchester, Bedford and Croydon.
News that SLC funds have been incorrectly paid out to a private college will be a further embarrassment to BIS. More...

By Richard PÉREZ-PEÑA. Rising student debt has become a national concern, but the picture is far from uniform, with students at some colleges borrowing 10 times as much as their counterparts at other colleges, a report released Wednesday says. Read more...

By Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett. Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett was on benefits when she graduated, but now earns a living doing what she loves. Troubled by tales of a generation in crisis, she decided to track down her sixth form. I was already signing on when I graduated. This was not unusual, but during the ceremony I felt pretty sad and hopeless. It was difficult to quaff champagne and toast our futures when I couldn't make rent. Plus I was horrifically hungover, thanks to the four-bottles-for-a-tenner wine deal my dad had provided the night before.
Although I'm now earning money as a freelance writer, at the time it seemed unlikely I would ever make a living from doing what I loved. Almost half of those who have graduated in the last five years in the UK are in non-graduate jobs for which they are overqualified and underpaid. This means the average graduate "starting salary" of £29,000 is a distant dream for many university leavers, as they take anything that's going in a competitive labour market and render it even more difficult for the less qualified to find work. More...