myUsearch blog

As a liberal arts student in college, I make it my business to know nothing about accounting, finance, banking, or lending. Yes, I currently receive federal financial aid—both subsidized and unsubsidized, direct and indirect—but I make a concerted effort to ignore the differences, disregard the fine print, and defer to my parents. I just trust that either they understand it, or if they don’t, money is money, right? We all have different ways of paying for college, and it usually just comes down to meeting that magic tuition number. For those of us not fortunate enough to encounter a bag of unmarked bills on the sidewalk or receive an envelope of mafia hush-money, there are good ol’ federal loans to help us get to that number.

 Obama photo by transplanted mountaineer

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FACT – In 2004, nearly two-thirds (62.4%) of graduates from public universities had student loans. (Source)  Given this level of borrowing, there is no doubt that the current mortgage and student loan crisis has the immediate attention of parents and students.   The student loan squeeze is a  three part series that will answer  a  few of the most  important  questions on the  minds of  students and  parents  around the country.

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The student loan industry has been viewed with much skepticism over the past few years due to the fact that the percentage of loans over grants and scholarships has increased drastically. This is bad news by itself because many students will not graduate and find a job that enables them to pay off the loans, leaving them to either default or reduce their standard of living. Some schools default rates are so high that federal loans are being removed from the financial aid package entirely.

Until today I thought that default rates and ability to pay the loans back were the only issues. (more…)