By Kelley Bass Jackson. African-Americans bear a disproportionate amount of consumer debt in our nation’s economy. The wealth gap between African-Americans and average Americans continues to widen. One way to close that gap is through higher education.
The pursuit of graduate education increases the likelihood of even greater earning potential; however, more student loan debt can be a barrier to African-American students’ pursuit of graduate enrollment and completion and adversely impact their financial futures.
In a recent presentation to attendees of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education’s (AABHE) Annual Conference, husband and wife finance gurus Bradley and Bonita Vinson exhorted that financial empowerment is the key to financial success. Read more...

By Bongekile Macupe. Universities are owed millions of rand by students, with some of the debt dating back to the early 1980s. Even though some institutions feel the pinch more than others, the debt mountain takes a heavy toll because tuition fees form a significant part of the income of universities. For those students who don’t pay up, their diplomas or degrees are withheld until their debt is settled, often putting them in a Catch-22 bind. Jabulani Mathebula finished his public management diploma at the University of Johannesburg last year and is due to graduate in April. But he owes the university R6 000 and if he doesn’t raise the money before April he won’t get his diploma. Read more...

Many U.S. universities could face a volatile year in terms of financing in 2013, with a major credit ratings agency saying it expects to issue more ratings changes in the not-for-profit higher education sector this year. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, in a report on Monday, described a sector that was facing both risks and opportunities as institutions strive to reassess programs, delivery systems, cost structures and revenue sources. See more...

By Beckie Supiano. While the average graduating senior who took out student loans leaves college with what should be a manageable level of loan debt—around $26,500—concerns about student debt are persistent and widespread. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators took account of that broad concern and decided to convene a task force of its members to comb through research and trends, and offer recommendations for improving the student-loan system. On Wednesday the association, known as Nasfaa, released a report laying out those recommendations, which have been endorsed by its board. Read more...

By Rebecca Ratcliffe. Expanding student loans for postgraduate study is not a possibility, David Willetts tells Guardian conference. Banks should "step up to the plate" and offer more loans to postgraduate students, the universities minister has told a higher education summit in London.
Expanding student loans for postgraduate study was not a possibility, David Willetts told the Guardian's Future of Higher Education conference. He said professional and career development loans were the "classic device" for funding postgraduate study.
"There cannot be a universal loans system, and I don't want to find us inadvertently ending up with student number controls for postgrads as a consequence," Willetts said. Read more...

The news comes as data from debt advice charity StepChange showed a big increase in the number of under-25s falling into debt with payday lenders, and reflects a growing concern about the availability of short-term, high-cost loans. Some of the loans on offer charge huge interest rates, sometimes many thousands of per cent APR. Although lenders say quoting an interest rate in annual terms is not a fair reflection of the cost, customers who roll over debts or take on new ones to cover existing loans can quickly see their debts grow. Read more...

By Jason Fekete. The federal government is writing off another $231 million in unpaid student loans this year from more than 44,000 cases, meaning taxpayers are on the hook for more than half a billion in uncollected student debt over the past few years. Supplementary spending estimates tabled Monday in the House of Commons by Treasury Board president Tony Clement call for an additional $231.2 million in the current 2012-13 fiscal year ending in March to write off 44,048 debts related to Canada Student Loans.
“Amounts being written off are debts for which all reasonable efforts to collect the amounts owed have been exhausted,” explains the 145-page supplementary spending estimates.
The new cash for 2012-13 is on top of nearly $312 million on the books from the 2011-12 fiscal year to cover unpaid Canada Student Loans from 98,448 debts dating back more than a decade. Together, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $540 million over the past couple of years to cover uncollected student loan debt. Read more...