Fitch Ratings said today that consistent increases in tuition costs and enrollment levels have combined to produce substantial growth in the U.S. student loan industry over the last decade. Moreover, participants in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) have benefited from this trend, but private education loan providers have experienced even greater growth, as [...]
Congressional leaders are moving briskly ahead on bills that would dramatically cut interest rates on student loans for some borrowers.
Although the measures have yet to become law, one has been approved in the House and a similar proposal has passed a key Senate committee. Experts say this is a sign that lending reforms are likely [...]
Student-loan borrowers cheered last month when the House voted to halve interest rates on federal loans. But don’t start celebrating just yet.
The bill, called the College Student Relief Act of 2007, would reduce the current rate on subsidized Stafford loans from a fixed 6.8 percent to a fixed 3.4 percent over five years.
Subsidized Stafford loans [...]
Recently, student loan companies and their representatives have come under fire for questionable business practices ranging from collection methods to marketing efforts. For student loan borrowers, financing their college education and choosing the best lender for their funds often is one of the most important decisions they will face in their college career. Investing considerable [...]
A private student loan provider is moving to Austin with plans to hire more than 200 people.
Education Finance Partners Inc., based in San Francisco, will open a customer operations center in North Austin. The location will house loan operations, customer service, technology and human resources. It expects to bring the site up to full capacity [...]
Last week, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would cut student loan interest rates in half.
“The motivation is to help college graduates alleviate their debt load and to make college more affordable to students by making loans and loan rates more manageable,” said Nicole Young, press secretary for [...]
The Bush administration reached an accord with a student loan company that will let it keep $278 million in subsidies that the inspector general of the Education Department found improper, the department said yesterday.
Under the agreement, the department will suspend future payments of more than $800 million, in addition to the $278 million paid to [...]
A White Paper describing a new educational loan program has been released by a group of school financial aid administrators. The paper urges all entities involved in student loans to rethink the structure of the student loan programs.
Loans have become the major college financing option for students and parents, but as currently structured, these [...]
Ready to pass a cut in student loan interest rates, House members on Wednesday clashed over education priorities — helping college graduates pay off debts or expanding federal grants for low-income students.
Democrats were pushing the interest rate bill through without amendments, eager to check off one more accomplishment in their list of early legislative goals. [...]
Four Malden banks have committed $8 million to a loan pool for a first- and second-time homebuyer program run by the Malden Redevelopment Authority.
Eastern Bank, Century Bank, Central Bank, and BankMalden each pledged $2 million to fund the program over the next two years.
The loan pool will make below-market-rate loans to low- and moderate-income home [...]
One of the big promises made by Democrats when campaigning for Congress was to cut interest rates in half for student loans.
The Democratic plan for college tuition would lower interest rates on federally subsidized college loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, but can it be done?
At Indiana State University, 70% of students receive some type of [...]
Although his party has denounced an audit of the state’s higher education loan authority, Republican Gov. Matt Blunt has endorsed it.
Blunt said yesterday that he supported Democratic State Auditor Susan Montee’s review of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, which is targeted as a funding source for his $350 million college construction plan.
In a [...]