Snow misers
Along with snow and holiday things, December brings us more student loan news.
-The Buffalo News notes that lenders are wary of the shift in power in Washington: "Within the student loan industry, the impending transfer of party control is producing waves of anxiety - in part because Democrats have promised that one of their first acts will be to cut interest rates on student loans." More stories on changes in student loan policy along with the change in Congress can be found in the Concord Monitor, CNN, Inside Higher Ed, and the Washington Post. TPM Cafe even calls for an investigation of the Department of Education regarding student loans. Note also that rumor has it that California Representative George Miller will be the new head of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, with former Chair John Boehner tapped to be Minority Leader.
-The Chicago Sun Times discusses the loan difficulties of young public interest lawyers, noting that "while their salary is a fraction of their private-sector peers, their law school debt may be equally crushing. And that has created a situation in which the offices of prosecutors and public defenders are finding it increasingly hard to hire and retain lawyers." More on student debt consequences: the Orlando Sentinel and USA Today.
-The University of Maryland Baltimore County opines that student loans are barriers to higher education.
-Kiplinger offers general advice on getting out of debt faster. More general student loan advice can be found in this USA Today article, as well as this Newsday article and this Roanoke Times article.
National Student Loan Debt Clock: $449 billion and growing all the time.
Happy holidays to all from GenerationDebt.
Comments
Yeah the problem is now the interest rate has gone up. When banks are paying CD's at 5% or above, even if allowed to refinance it is not going to do much good for years. The 3-4% are gone.
Posted by: Bob | December 18, 2006 04:52 PM
That student debt clock is awesome (well, in a depressing way--but informative). I wonder when the 'clock' was started though.
Posted by: Shelley Batts | December 18, 2006 09:42 PM