The consolidation section of our Financial Aid forum is consistently littered with questions about how to consolidate certain types of loans. One useful, but tricky loan type is the Parent PLUS.

Let’s face it, college life can get pricey. Every day, students from coast to coast throw their money away without realizing that some of the biggest costs in college can be easily avoided if you’re willing to be a bit resourceful.

Attention all graduate students: if you have not already filed your FAFSA for the upcoming school year, start it ASAP!

The Pell Grant is an excellent award set up for financially needy students to help afford the cost of college.

“With the prospect of President Obama’s student-loan bill passing through the budget reconciliation bill fast approaching, Senator Lamar Alexander (Republican of Tennessee) took to the Washington Post op-ed page to tell some lies about the bill,” Kevin Carey, the policy director for Education Sector, writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education. “It’s not a secret that the government will be lending money for more than that money costs. All lending programs work this way. The difference is that currently the money left over after paying people to administer the program is used to line the pockets of bank shareholders and executives whereas under Obama’s plan it will be used for Pell grants that benefit low-income students.”

“Quality vs. affordability: The balancing act has never been harder for Arizona’s three universities. They have proposed steep increases in tuition and fees to offset deep cuts in state funding. The Arizona Board of Regents will consider the proposal on Thursday,” the Arizona Republic reports.

“As Michigan is facing double-digit unemployment, Lansing Community College is promising some of its students an enticing guarantee: jobs within a year — or their tuition money back,” the Detroit Free Press reports. “Henry Ford and Oakland community colleges offer similar deals for some of their associate’s degree programs.”

“Many colleges have only the first policy — telling some students that they are admitted, but that they can’t offer enough money to meet their need — or only the second, in which once a designated aid budget is used up, only students who can afford to pay are admitted,” Inside Higher Ed reports. “Hamilton College has been in the second group, and has come close to being need blind. But on Saturday, its board voted to become need blind for all domestic students — while continuing its commitment to giving all admitted applicants aid packages to cover their need.”

“The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student-, farm- and small-business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Previously, the U.S. hasn’t been able to withhold Social Security payments to recover most debts delinquent for more than ten years. But a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted the ten-year statute of limitations on the government’s ability to withhold Social Security benefits in collecting debts other than student loans — for which the statute of limitations was lifted in 1997 — and income taxes, where the limit remains 10 years.”

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