Daily Aid 105: Yet another reason to oppose all-Direct Lending
Scholarship Update
Today is our drawing for a $10,000 scholarship. Even if you miss today’s, we’re doing another at the end of July. Apply now. It’s free.
Ranting and Raving
A little QQ, or complaining vocally, about a student loan servicing company, ACS, from me.
Dear ACS:
STOP LOSING MY PAYMENTS.
For the last 3 months, you’ve lost every payment I’ve sent to you, and what’s more, your customer service team’s ability to deal with it in a courteous, polite manner has been inexcusable. They’re not even …

Daily Aid 104: Student loan default rate secret
Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
As Congress prepares to take up their 2010 budget blueprints, supporters and critics of President Obama’s proposal to eliminate the Family Federal Education Loan program are ramping up their arguments for and against the plan. The Consumer Bankers Association has attracted more than 4,000 college financial aid administrators, parents and loan industry officials as signers of a petition asking lawmakers to sustain the competition between the lender-based guaranteed loan and the competing direct loan programs. The heads …

I’m on the road today, out of the office, but wanted to answer a few questions along the way.
Jeff writes:
For My sons FASFA I indicated on campus housing but just realized that at Vir Tech second years students must find off campus housing. Which he has. Should I make the correction or leave as is?
Cost of attendance for on or off campus is probably very close, though I can’t tell from VT’s web site. I would go ahead and update the FAFSA just to be accurate in case of verification, …

Daily Aid 83: How I almost fell for a scam and saved myself
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
The association for student-aid officials is urging the Education Department to rescind a decision, announced in the Bush administration’s final days, to end a program in which college financial-aid offices may use experimental approaches in the awarding and delivery of aid to students.
In a letter on Friday to Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators says the program has allowed more than 100 two- and four-year …

Daily Aid 82: Massive identity theft scam warning
It’s President’s Day here, which means that normal stuff like banking and financial stuff is closed for the day. Not only is the Student Loan Network open, but we’re blowing the lid off of a very well done scam that has the potential to hook a lot of people. It’s like most other email scams – only someone actually put time and effort into this one.
It starts with a deceptively simple email purportedly from the IRS – which of course in this tax …

Daily Aid 81: How to automate followups for job hunting, stimulus, student loan consolidation
Student Financial Aid News
Yesterday, Congress came to an agreement on the final version of the stimulus package. Unfortunately, no one has any idea what’s actually in it. We do know some more education stuff got trimmed; I would hope the provision for increased unsubsidized Stafford Loan limits to have survived since there is no net taxpayer cost, but we’ll see.
From NASFAA:
“[T]he credit crunch hit, and the market for student loans dried up. The freeze has left … …

Daily Aid 80: Online degrees on CNBC, community college psychic costs
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
A new report suggests that students at two-year institutions learn more slowly than those in four-year programs because higher education exacts greater financial and psychic costs from people in community colleges. For example, community-college students may struggle more with college-level work, causing college to exact a greater psychic cost from them. Two-year students, particularly if they are attending a community college less than half-time, also tend to have more limited access to financial aid than …

Daily Aid 79: Farewell MyRichUncle, FAFSA questions
Student Financial Aid News
MyRichUncle has declared chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means that if you had them as a lender, you need a new student loan company. Also, if you have had loans with MyRichUncle in the past (or any student loan company that’s gone out of business), those loans will be sold at auction to other investors in the liquidation, so make sure that you keep in touch with your servicer (whoever sends you the bills each month) and ensure that your contact information …

FAP904: FFEL, student credit cards, making money with Amazon, free stuff
Click here to download the MP3 file
Weekly Financial Aid Roundup
The consequences of eliminating FFEL – some predictions.
Eliminating FFEL – more commentary.
Scholarship Update
Our $10,000 scholarship… next week!
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Daily Aid 103: Should students have credit cards?
Student Financial Aid News
From NASFAA:
“Student-loan companies, faced with the threat of extinction, are finding a glimmer of hope in the Senate’s budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “The spending plan, which will be unveiled later today or tomorrow, will not instruct the education committees in Congress to undertake the deficit-cutting process known as budget reconciliation. The omission could make it harder for Democrats to push through President Obama’s plan to abolish the guaranteed-loan program. That’s because …