Daily Aid 32: FAFSA EFC and the CSS Profile – How Much You Can Pay For College
Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
At Shenandoah University, there have been a few senior-level administrators who have decided to forgo their raises altogether, placing the money in an emergency fund that is being used to help existing students who are struggling to afford to stay enrolled.
Commentary
I applaud anyone who is willing to take a pay cut – and forgoing a raise when inflation is eating away at the bottom line is effectively a …

Daily Aid 31: How to cut your cost of college education in half
Student Financial Aid News
From all over the place – lenders are curtailing credit cards by increasing credit requirements and reducing available credit, including student credit cards. Defaults have been rising across the board on all forms of lending, but credit cards have been hit especially hard since the housing bubble burst. If you’re thinking about getting a credit card, you’ll want to do that sooner rather than later.
From NASFAA and USA Today:
“For months, the Wall Street credit crisis …

Daily Aid 30: State of the student loan industry
Student Financial Aid News
From NASFAA and the Chronicle:
“This year’s growth in the Education Department’s direct-lending system could be replicated in 2009, possibly leaving the now-dominant bank-based system as the minority supplier of federal student-loan money by next fall, according to findings from a new survey of colleges,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “The Web-based poll of 416 college financial-aid directors last week by Student Lending Analytics found that 6 percent of those currently using the bank-based system plan to switch to …

Daily Aid 29: The credit crisis hits college campuses
Student Financial Aid News
From NASFAA and the AP:
“The credit crunch has officially arrived on campus,” the Associated Press reports. “In a new survey, private colleges report their students are finding it significantly harder to secure the private loans they need to pay tuition bills. More alarmingly, nearly half of colleges say some students have been forced to take time off or go part-time as a result. The survey, released Tuesday by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, confirms anecdotal evidence …

Daily Aid 28: FAFSA Secrets and Hidden Traps
A special blog post while I’m on the road to Arizona for a couple of days off – and yes, vacation for me is doing public speaking! I’ve been working on the 2009-2010 FAFSA guide for the coming year over the past week or so, learning the ins and outs of IRS tax code, the new draft FAFSA (which won’t be finalized until November), and a bunch of stuff that goes with it all. Some interesting lessons I’ve picked up so far:
The FAFSA …

Daily Aid 27: Give a little help to your friends
Student Financial Aid News
From MSNBC:
It’s prime college-visiting season for the high school class of 2009, which next fall will send the greatest number of graduates on to college in American history. But the souring economy and crisis on Wall Street are shrinking families’ college savings, and some parents wonder whether they will be able to afford tuition at the schools their youngsters are looking at. Around the country, students deciding where to apply may have to scale back their dreams. Some …

Daily Aid 26: How to understand how the economy is really doing
Eye on the Economy
I want to do a special today to give you some tools for understanding the market a little better, some things to keep an eye on, and some explanations so that when you see financial news in the headlines, you know whether it’s serious or hype.

When news outlets talk about the market, they’re most often talking about 3 different stock market measures – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, and the NASDAQ. …

Daily Aid 25: Surveying the economic landscape
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
The Wal-Mart Foundation, the chain store’s philanthropic arm, announced today a $4.2-million grant to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, which will use the money to support programs that help students who are the first in their families to go to college succeed at minority-serving institutions.
The grant continues the philanthropy’s recent emphasis on helping first-generation students, including millions of dollars in grants, announced in February, to the Council of Independent Colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges, and 20 …

Student Loan Network $10,000 Halloween Scholarship Open To Students
Quincy, MA –

What can you do in 60 seconds? Send a text message. Leisurely walk half a football field. Reheat a frozen pretzel or pizza, perhaps. The Student Loan Network has added “Apply for a $10,000 scholarship” to the list of things you can do in 60 seconds. The Boston-based financial aid company is holding a drawing for $10,000 on Halloween night, open to graduating high school students and current college students.

“We call it the Trick or Treat scholarship because so many …

Daily Aid 24: How Health Insurance May Affect Your Financial Aid
Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
Evidence from New York State suggests that students realize how tough a budget year public higher education faces. Leaders of the Student Assembly of the State University of New York have endorsed a proposal — now slated to go to the full Student Assembly — that would call for modest annual tuition increases, The Times-Union reported. SUNY student leaders have traditionally opposed tuition increases, and the new policy would represent the first time that …