Last week, Student Loan Xpress, a company at the forefront of the federal student loan scandals in 2007, announced that it would forgive $112.8 million worth of private student loans it made for students to attend an unaccredited flight training school based in Nevada. The school, which charged $70,000 a year for tuition, shut down [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'Private Student Loans'
More on PLUS Denials
Andrew Gillen over at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity challenges my post yesterday on how PLUS loan denials could be used as a tactic for driving some borrowers toward private loans.
One of the certainly pertinent questions that Gillen raises is why would a lender deny a borrower’s PLUS loan application if they then [...]
Do PLUS Denials Help Private Loan Borrowing?
For many families, PLUS loans are an important source of borrowing to pay for expenses not covered by a Stafford loan. With basically no limit—parents can take out an amount equal to the cost of attendance minus any aid received—and a fixed interest rate of 7.9 percent or 8.5 percent depending on the program borrowed [...]
Reforms Will Shrink, But Not Eliminate, Private Student Lending
One of the stranger arguments being floated against reforming the federal student loan program is that ending subsidies for bank-based institutions will cause a collapse in the offering of private student loans that do not carry a government guarantee. But barring a massive reduction in tuition nationwide, private loan borrowing (unfortunately) appears to be alive [...]
UPDATED: Two Easy Ways to Link Private and Perkins Loans
There are few higher education access issues the proposed reforms to the Perkins Loan Program (pages 64 to 88) aren’t trying to target. Tamping down excessive college costs? Schools get rewarded for low tuition. Need to improve graduation rates for low-income students? Institutions receive money for graduating large numbers of Pell Grant students. But the [...]
9.5 Scandal Makes its Way to Sallie Mae
While cost and increased aid for low-income students have rightfully dominated the discussion of the proposal to end subsidies for private lenders making federal student loans, it’s worth remembering that terminating the bank-based system would also help return integrity to a system with an ever-growing history of scandal and abuse.
Case in point, an audit report [...]
A Financial Aid Shake Up
Last Friday, FastWeb, a free, online scholarship search service, released the results of a survey it conducted on student borrowing, showing that half of students applying for private loans, parent PLUS loans, and home equity loans were denied access to funds. If this number is accurate, it means that a large number of students will [...]
Special Treatment for Private Loans, No Way Out for Students
Robert Shireman, President of The Institute for College Access and Success, is guest blogging over at New America Foundation—check out his post today on how private student loans (not the government-backed loans) can’t be eliminated in bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy allows people who have serious financial problems a chance to start over by relieving them of most of [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/05/10 | Andrew Rotherham's reaction to New York as a Race to the Top finalist is mentioned on National Journal.
03/04/10 | Andrew Rotherham defends the U.S. Senate's filibuster rule in a column for the New York Daily News.
03/04/10 | Kevin Carey is quoted on college tuition increases in a CNN article.
03/02/10 | Chad Aldeman's False Fronts report generated a news article in Inside Higher Ed.
03/02/10 | Kevin Carey guestblogs about college accreditation on Higher Ed Watch.
03/02/10 | Chad Aldeman's False Fronts report generated a news article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.