FAP522: Scholarship search secret, FFEL vs. Direct Loans, Misbehavior at SLM, Chloe Leigh
Student Financial Aid News
+ From Banknet360: The Missouri Senate passed by a vote of 23-11 Gov. Matt Blunt’s plan to use money from the state’s student loan agency to fund university building projects. The plan now awaits House approval.
+ The controversial $350 million plan includes new limits on tuition increases, enhanced oversight, and a new scholarship program. Democrats are widely opposed to the plan to sell the assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, which has already …

FAP521: Free stuff Friday, Cuomo blames Dept. of Education, AAU code of conduct, Rayko KRB
Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: The Association of American Universities on Thursday issued a “statement of principles” on student loans, designed to respond to the growing scandal over allegations that some institutions encourage borrowing from lenders that provide certain payments to colleges or aid officials. The principles state that the “first priority” of institutions must be “the best interests of student borrowers.” Specifically, the guidelines state that colleges should be sure that their …

FAP520: Presentation from the PESC 4th annual Technology and Standards Conference in Washington, DC
+ Slides
+ Matthew Ebel’s music
Reminders
+ Private student loans
+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.
Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

FAP519: Conference in review, NASFAA code of conduct, Boston scholarship, Sheila Swift
Student Financial Aid News
+ From NASFAA: In light of the recent attention that has been given to the relationship between postsecondary institutions and student loan providers, NASFAA’s Board of Directors spent considerable time at its April 21 – 23 meeting deliberating over the actions that it should take to address these matters. As an outcome, the Board approved a resolution announcing a plan of action to develop its own code of conduct within the next few weeks that will …

FAP518: State attorneys general banding together, live report from PESC, DC scholarship, Matthew Ebel
Student Financial Aid News
+ From BankNet 360: Duquesne University will no longer accept commissions from private student lenders; the result of a probe conducted by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
+ Duquesne got $16,000 from San Francisco-based Education Finance Partners, $10,000 from PNC Financial Group Inc. [ticker: PNC”>MP3 file, and $2,500 from Citizens Bank, all of which, the school says went toward student aid.
+ From Inside Higher Ed: In recent days, the top legal officers in states …

FAP517: How to compare student loans, more loan scandal stuff, 11 user submitted scholarships, Rayko KRB
Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: On Friday, Nebraska’s attorney general, Jon Bruning, announced that he had reached an agreement in which a lender in his own backyard, the National Education Loan Network, “self-reported” that it had made what Bruning called “very minor” mistakes in its student loan practices — paying $4,800 to one university (identified elsewhere as Western Illinois University) in a revenue sharing agreement, and to giving a plane ticket for …

I’ve arrived safely in Washington, DC and am starting to venture out around the hotel. The PESC Conference will be held tomorrow through Wednesday – if you’re attending the conference (or even if you’re not) and you’d like to hang out or grab a cup of coffee, get in touch! FinancialAidPodcast at gmail dot com or 206-350-1208.

FAP516: Free stuff Friday, PESC conference, NSLDS, student loan consolidation, mail bag, Rayko KRB
Student Financial Aid News
+ Monday – Wednesday I’ll be in Washington, DC for the PESC 4th annual Technology and Standards Conference
+ We should have a PodCamp Nano or something while I’m there
+ Staying at the Wyndham Washington
+ Got questions for other financial aid pros? Send them in – check out my Twitter page, too
+ Virginia Tech on Thursday announced how it would respond to academic issues raised by Monday’s tragedy. The students who were killed will be …

FAP515: Basic tips for saving money, student loan politics, full tuition scholarship at Wake Forest, Red Molly
Student Financial Aid News
+ From Reuters via CNN: The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Education Committee Wednesday urged the Bush administration to quickly adopt emergency reforms to eliminate bribes and cronyism in the embattled student loan industry.
+ Amid a widening conflict-of-interest scandal in the $85-billion business, California Rep. George Miller told reporters that the U.S. Department of Education “has failed to conduct adequate oversight of the student loan industry.”
+ Miller called on Secretary …

The Student Loan Network has published a very short 5-page guide for getting information about your federal student loans from the National Student Loan Data System, or NSLDS. This guide will help you when you’re trying to consolidate your student loans, or just to learn more about them for financial planning services.

View the guide as a web page!
Print out the guide from a PDF!