By Goldie Blumenstyk.Many academics say they have a hard time conducting unfettered research on students at for-profit colleges. And just about everyone says that all students, but particularly those who are first-generation college students from from lower-income families, need better counseling about the loans they are assuming to go to college. Read more...
In a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday, consumer advocacy groups, higher education associations and others asked the bureau to require that colleges give prior approval before students borrow private loans, saying that the bureau has the power to require full certification by institutions. Read more...With 10 days remaining until the interest rate doubles on new, federally subsidized student loans July 1, a bipartisan group of senators is said to be working out a compromise -- but whether a bill that can pass both houses of Congress is achievable before the rates increase is still unclear. The compromise would base interest rates on the 10-year Treasury note (as would plans from Senate and House Republicans and from President Obama). Rates would vary from year to year for new loans, but would be fixed over the life of the loan -- as was the case in Obama's plan, and in the Senate Republican proposal. The plan would cap interest rates at 8.5 percent. Read more...
By Martin McQuillan. Plans to sell off student loans to private investors undermine trust in the whole university process, says Martin McQuillan. The Guardian last week revealed a secret report commissioned by the government from Rothschild bank, looking at ways in which the student loan book could be made attractive to private investors and sold off. The report is still under active consideration at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and, notably, ministers have failed to deny its contents. Read more...By Libby A. Nelson. The interest rate for new, federally subsidized student loans will increase to 6.8 percent on July 1 if Congress does not act. A Congressional Budget Office report released Monday put more numbers behind the various plans calling for changes to the loan program, estimating that keeping the rate at 3.4 percent would cost the government $41 billion over 10 years but that other changes might generate significant savings. Read more...
By John Morgan. The government should urgently clarify its plans for the sale of the student loan book and reassure existing graduates that their repayments will not be raised, according to Labour’s shadow higher education minister. Shabana Mahmood spoke after it was revealed that a report commissioned by the government included proposals to increase interest rates on student loans for 3.6 million borrowers in England who took out loans over the past 15 years. The report, by Rothschild investment bank and examining how the coalition could sell student loans issued since 1998, was obtained by the False Economy website under the Freedom of Information Act, according to a story in The Guardian. Read more...
By Aditya Chakrabortty. Proposal is found in Whitehall-commissioned study examining how coalition could privatise entire stock of student loans. A confidential report commissioned by the government has proposed redrawing the terms of student loans taken out over the past 15 years, that would make them more expensive to pay back for 3.6 million borrowers in England alone. The proposal to increase the interest rates on the £40bn worth of loans is the most controversial of a series of options contained in a Whitehall-commissioned study examining how the coalition could privatise the entire stock of student loans issued since 1998. Read more...By Andrew McGettigan. Selling off student loans just doesn't make sense – it's short-termist and contemptuous of citizens. The Guardian recently saw a copy of a report produced by Rothschild to conclude a feasibility study for the government. For much of 2010 and 2011, they were tasked with finding a way to "monetise" the growing book of outstanding student loan balances (valued somewhere around £40bn even before the recent rise in tuition fees). That is, they were asked to find a way to sell a quarter to a half of those loans to third parties – insurance companies and pension funds, most likely – while ensuring "value for money". Read more...
By Lucy Sherriff. Payday loans lenders have been banned from advertising at three UK universities for exploiting "vulnerable" students, after some were found to have interest rates of more than 4000%. The University of Northampton, Northumbria University and Swansea University have all committed to prohibiting adverts from companies calling the lenders "hugely irresponsible" for targeting students struggling with financial debt. The decision is the result of a lengthy drive by the National Union of Students to hold payday lenders to account, after research revealed as much as 10% of students in vulnerable groups have accessed high risk debt, with many starving themselves to save money. Payday loans adverts are already banned at the University of East London, who said it wanted to prevent students becoming "financially destitute or desperate" through taking out high-interest debts. Read more...
By Ellen Roseman . Two young men who finished university without applying for student loans give advice to others on how to cut expenses. Kyle Prevost and Justin Bouchard, both 25, met in residence at the University of Manitoba. They graduated without debt, thanks to help from parents, scholarships and summer jobs./https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
