School Loans: A New type of private student loan is available to college students who want to take a responsible approach to building credit. The new loan from Sallie Mae is called the Smart Option Student Loan(R).

This private loan has a credit building feature and and option to repay $25 a month while in school, which can leave a student with less debt for that particular loan. Before applying for private student loans…

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It is also smart to obtain as much Federal financial and loans, grants, scholarships and other Federal based aid before borrowing an alternative student loan. Check with the new website www.studentloans.gov for all Federal loan options*.  A summer job will also help add funds toward tuition and school expenses.

*Note: the schoolloans.org website and blog is not associated or endorsed by the D.O.E.

school loan repayment

Paying the Loans for School:  The Alternatives in school financing; by Editor, The Money Student @ http://schoolloans.org

The main issue about school loans is not the procurement process, but actually the payment process. The real problem comes when you need to pay your loans for school but do not have any funds to do so. Fortunately, there are many alternative ways to pay for school or pay off your school debt without necessarily increasing the interest.

Paying Loans for School Based on Income
One of the many ways by which you can pay your school loan is through a newly created income-based repayment program that is executed by the government. How does it work? It works in such a way that the government determines your annual income, and has you paying about 15% of your loans, which is equivalent to 15% of your income, and the income below poverty line ($10,830). This will transpire for one year.

After a 25-year period has expired, any remaining balance would be relegated to tax amounts. This will alleviate your financial difficulty because you do not have to pay as much as before. For example, if you have an income of about $27,000 you would have to pay about $200. Anything remaining after 25 years would be included in taxes, as mentioned earlier.

Student Loan Consolidation

This is the most popular way to pay off your debts. This works by pooling all your loans for school into one general deficit. This way you would only have one debt to pay instead of many separate ones. It will help decrease your debts because it also decreases the interests that you have to pay, since they are all going to be merged into one debt. You can also pay off your Education debt by deferring your payment but a downside to this is to have increased interest over the years. The deferment plan lasts for about 10 years. Read more on education loan types and information

The Forgiveness Program
This is another way by which you can pay off your loans for school. This is called the forgiveness program because it allows students, who would enter certain public service jobs like teaching and nursing services, to pay off their loans for school. They can do so by writing off a certain percentage of their income to the repayment of the student loan. It would usually take about five years to pay off such debts, depending on the percentage that the government takes from the income.

However, there is some unfortunate news that can affect this program. Because of the recession, the government has scaled some of these programs down. Given this, it is still worth a try to research about these programs.

These are just a few of the many ways by which you can pay off your loans for school. You do not have to worry about paying your loans. You just have to be diligent in researching about the options that you can have with regards to paying your debts. Remember that the important thing is to make efforts to try to pay your Education loans and school loan debts.

Article written by Editor, The Money Student

Is A College Education Possible in Today’s Uncertain Economy?
Education is extremely important in today’s modern world. If a person truly desires to improve their lively hood and lifestyle then they need to attain a college degree. While it is true that college is getting more and more expensive, it is more important to understand that the benefits gained from getting and completing a college education will be advantageous to all parts of a person’s life.

However, one of the main reasons why people do not try to pursue a college education is that it is not financial possible for them –or so they think. In all actuality, the majority of American citizens can go to college and attain at great education.  All they need to do is apply for financial aid.

How do You Apply for Financial Aid?
In the United States, applying for financial aid is simple, fast and free. In order to get financial aid for college education, all a person needs to do is to complete and file the FAFSA form.
There are numerous benefits for filling out this form and a person can apply without even been completely accepted into a school!  However, you do need to know the Federal School Code of the college and/or university you want to attend. Without this information, a person cannot complete the FAFSA form.

How do you file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form?
The FAFSA can be filed out by hand or electronically from a home or public computer.  If you choose to use a public computer, be sure that it is free from virus, spy ware, and malware. When applying for the FAFSA you will need to supply them with highly personal information.  Please be careful, you don’t want to be a victim of identity theft!

What is the Federal School Code?
One of the most important features and categories on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the Federal School Code for the school the potential college student wishes to attend. The Federal School Code is a number code that the United States federal government will assign to a participating higher level intuition that is authorized and validated to receive federal student aid for its students.

What does the Federal School Code Look Like? ( Helpful Resource: Federal School Code LookUp at the DOE.)
Now, in order to recognize what the Federal School Code is, you need to understand the code. The Federal School Code starts with the number Zero(0), B, E or G. After this, it is followed by six other characters.
In the end, it is extremely important to know your desired school’s federal code because, without that information, the United States Department of Education will have no idea how to calculate the estimated funds a person may need in order to attend that particular college or university. Also, without submitting that information, a person will not be able to attend any college or university. Therefore, it is extremely important for a person who wants to attend college to know their school’s federal code.

Helpful Resource: Federal School Code LookUp at the DOE.

The Student Aid Report (SAR) is a summary of the information that an applicant submits to the office of the Federal Student Aid. The information also includes an applicant’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) among other things. An applicant usually receives the SAR in a few days if an applicant applied through the internet – or -  in four weeks if the applicant mailed in his or her FAFSA.  You may find the official SAR here.

What to do upon receipt of the SAR
Once an applicant gets his SAR, he should check it immediately for errors made in filling out the application. It is important to put it up against a copy of the applicant’s FAFSA. Special attention should be given to the portion on Estimated Family Contribution because the EFC written on one’s SAR will establish how much financial aid an applicant will receive.

If an applicant finds errors on the SAR, these can be corrected by writing the correct information on the Information Review Form. This form can usually be found at the back of the SAT form. Once the necessary corrections are made, the applicant can either send the form by postal mail to the address written on the SAR or get in touch with the school’s financial aid office to ask if they can send the corrections to the appropriate office by email or by fax.

What to do when report is selected for Verification
An applicant will receive a SAR that has a message that says that the school will ask for copies of certain documents. These may be documents that may be related to the financial standing of the applicant and his or her family. The applicant is expected to comply with the requirements on his or her FAFSA. There will be corresponding instructions on the forms to guide the applicant through the process.

The selection is done to substantiate any information that was provided previously by the applicant on the FAFSA. This selection is done by either the educational institutions or the U.S. Department of Education. There may be some inconsistencies with the data submitted, perhaps there were parts of the FAFSA that were not filled out completely, the FAFSA contains information that is not accurate or the applicant’s report was randomly selected.

Different Requirements for Verification
Not all applications go through the FAFSA verification process. Once this happens to an applicant, it is important that the student submit the documents requested. As the selection is based on the information submitted, it is normal that the requirements vary from applicant to applicant. For purposes of consistency, it is important for applicants to remember the information they put in the FAFSA and keep the documents to complete the application. Making a photocopy or taking screenshots of the FAFSA before submitting may be valuable if questions arise later.

There is no need to be wary about the verification process. Going through verification simply means that the DOE wants to make sure of the accuracy of all data presented, so that they can make the best financial assistance package for each applicant.

For additional insight review this Yahoo! Answers FAFSA Verification Q&A, and the official FAFSA site at Fafsa.Ed.Gov

International students often experience higher levies than local students. For instance, international students have to pay their own transportation costs and accommodations are not covered either. They have to pay for a rental apartment while attending school. Students who come from countries which experience… unstable currency rates will have to obtain loans to access school in the United States. However, it is not easy for foreign students to obtain loans. As much as there are fewer options in loans, there are institutions that are ready to lend international students educational loans….

Requirements to Attend USA colleges
It is a requirement that international students take tests before attending any school in the United States.
Commonly known as TOEFL, students have no option but to pass the TOEFL exams to show that they can speak the English language fluently.  This has to be passed in order to be accepted into any United States educational Institution. Sometimes a high score in TOEFL is required to enter higher education institutions, like universities and colleges. In addition, students who would love to study in the United States must sit for the SAT or ACT exams to illustrate a fundamental knowledge of reasoning skills, mathematics and English. Even though United States citizens and foreign students must take the same exams, they are often more challenging for foreign students than for United States citizens. International students often experience a shock in the cultural differences and speaking language abilities.
In order to perform well on these tests, foreign students may have to study longer in order to be on the same plain.  They also often need to seek guidance from qualified tutors. However, students who perform well in the initial test may attract sponsorships and sometimes even loans. Here is another good article entitled:

How can a canadian citizen attend college in the US

How to Apply For Visa as an International Student
If you wish to study in the United States, the most important requirement is the student visa. You cannot travel any part of the world, especially the United States, without a visa. In order to secure a student visa, you have to declare that you have already been accepted and invited to a university or a college. If you do not understand the procedure then the student office at your institution may be of assistance to help you through the application process.
It is also to your advantage to have excellent grades, because it will make the procedure of securing a visa much easier.  Visas are very detailed and they tell precisely the time frame in which you are allowed to be in a foreign country. Visas also illustrate whether you are eligible to work while studying. Also, if the visa permits you to study and work on the side, you will notice that it restricts certain jobs.  There are specific jobs that you are not allowed to do, for example, many federal jobs.
Regrettably, you may find it important to seek to secure institutional funding and university student loans, since you may require relying generally on loans to finance your education.

1. “If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can’t buy” -Proverb
2. “Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it” -William Somerset Maugham
3. “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” -Jim Rohn
4. “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.” -Maya Angelou   
5. “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” -Benjamin Franklin
6. “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” -Bo Derek
7. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” -Jim Rohn
8. “So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?” -Ayn Rand
9. “Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.” -Helen Gurley Brown
10. “The art is not in making money, but in keeping it” -Proverb
11. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” -Ayn Rand
12. “Money often costs too much.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
13. “You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” -Ruth Smeltzer
14. “Go out in the world and work like money doesn’t matter, Sing as if no one is listening, Love as if you have never been hurt, and Dance as if no one is watching”
15. “It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” -George Lorimer
16. “Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail” -Richard Friedman
17. “Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” -James W. Frick
18. “Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money.” -Owen Laughlin
19. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” -Benjamin Franklin
20. “If you want to see what God thinks of money, just look at all the people He gave it to.” -Dorothy Parker
21. “Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue.” -Ayn Rand
22. “Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
23. “Money and women are the most sought after and the least known about of any two things we have” -Will Rogers
24. “Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.” -James Arthur Baldwin
25. “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” -James Goldsmith
26. “The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.” -Thomas Jefferson
27. “I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.” -Robert Bosch
28. “Money is usually attracted, not pursued.” -Jim Rohn
29. “Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.” -Henry David Thoreau
30. “While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery”
31. “Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.” -Kahlil Gibran
32. Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves. -Albert Einstein
33. There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it, when it does not even benefit themselves. How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty! -Ann Radcliffe
34. He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. -Benjamin Franklin
35. If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting. -Benjamin Franklin
36. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody. -Benjamin Franklin
37. Riches may enable us to confer favours, but to confer them with propriety and grace requires a something that riches cannot give. -Charles Caleb Colton
38. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery. -Charles Dickens
39. Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game. -Donald Trump
40. I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart. -e e cummings
41. The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. -Edith Wharton
42. Save a little money each month and at the end of the year you’ll be surprised at how little you have. -Ernest Haskins
43. The rich are the scum of the earth in every country. -G. K. Chesterton
44. Lack of money is the root of all evil. -George Bernard Shaw
45. One must be poor to know the luxury of giving. -George Eliot
46. Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy. -Groucho Marx
47. The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated. -H. L. Mencken
48. Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil. -Henry Fielding
49. A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. -Jane Austen
50. A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. -Jonathan Swift
51. Do not be fooled into believing that because a man is rich he is necessarily smart. There is ample proof to the contrary. -Julius Rosenwald
52. Be rich to yourself and poor to your friends. -Juvenal
53. The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any. -Katharine Whitehorn
54. It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. -Kin Hubbard
55. The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket. -Kin Hubbard
56. He had learned over the years that poor people did not feel so poor when allowed to give occasionally. -Lawana Blackwell
57. It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. -Oscar Wilde
58. Wealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. -Plato
59. Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it. -Rebecca Johnson
60. Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand until it finally disappears. -Robert W. Sarnoff
61. Money: There’s nothing in the world so demoralizing as money. -Sophocles
62. Money can’t buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy. -Spike Milligan
63. He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it. -W. Somerset Maugham
64. Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. -Woody Allen

Even worse, many students don’t even graduate, leaving school without a degree but still with piles of student loans to repay.

The article uses some good examples to illustrate this phenomena:

Mindy Babbitt entered Davenport University in her mid-20s to study accounting. Unable to cover the costs with her previous earnings as a cosmetologist, she took out a $35,000 student loan at 9% interest, figuring her postgraduate income would cover the cost.

Instead, the entry-level job her bachelor’s degree got her barely covered living expenses. Babbitt deferred loan repayments and was then laid off for a time. Now 41 and living in Plainwell, Mich., she is earning $41,000 a year, or about $10,000 more than the average high school graduate makes. But since she graduated, Babbitt’s student loan balance has more than doubled, to $87,000, and she despairs she’ll never pay it off.

“Unless I win the lottery or get a job paying a lot more, my student debts are going to follow me to the grave,” she says.

It also mentions two married lawyers, who despite 6 figure incomes, still expect to be in debt the rest of their lives.

The moral of the story here is that a college diploma does not guarantee a life of high paying jobs. Before taking out massive loans, students need to consider the costs and benefits of that degree. Will a university education help you get high paying jobs? Are the interest rates on your student loan excessive?

Don’t get sucked in by the myth that you have to go to college and that student loans companies are there to help you. Like many parts of the debt industry, student loans, especially private students loans, are filled with scammers that feed off naive students eager to attend college.

Don’t make the same mistakes these people made. If you’re going to take a college loan, make sure you get a degree that will help you earn money. Don’t accept the first loan offer you see, hunt for the best interest rate available. Seriously consider not going to college, there are many other paths to a great living.

In the end, as in most areas of debt, it all comes down to making smart decisions.

The always popular Dilbert

Dogbert knows how the economy works better than anyone

Where is the transparency?

The government and bankers seem a little too cozy.

Tips for making money during a recession

Obama’s first day on the job

Bank CEOs face outrage

The future downside of the stimulus bill?

Henry Paulson’s detailed plan to bailout the financial system.

Who got us into this mess?

Calvin explains publicly traded corporations

The FED cuts interest rates to 0%

That lipstick on a something gag is still good

Obama is inaugurated. Poor guy.

Boy, that was fast!

Seems more reliable than most financial advice

The Bush tax rebate, those were the good old days