Student Financial Aid News

From NASFAA and CNN Money:

“Banks that took billions of dollars in taxpayer aid clamped down on credit during the month of March, according to a Treasury Department report published Monday,” CNNMoney reports. “In its first broad-based view of lending activity of the 500 financial institutions that received money under the agency’s Capital Purchase Program, the Treasury said the total amount of loans outstanding contracted by 0.8% in March to $5.24 trillion from $5.28 trillion in February. The report, which included everyone from smaller community banks to major national banks like Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), revealed that banks pulled back the most on new business loans. The amount of commercial loans outstanding fell 1.2% to $2.35 trillion. The amount of consumer loans, including residential mortgages, student loans and credit card lines, fell by less than half that amount, declining 0.5% in March to $2.88 trillion in March.”

Commentary

No one should be surprised by this. Despite steps taken to the contrary, the economy remains very uncertain still. We’ve been reminding you over and over again to the point of annoyance that you NEED to get your fall financial aid sorted out and taken care of now, such as applying for your Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and private student loans, as well as continuing to aggressively hunt down scholarships. There’s a whole second wave of systemic economic stress on its way very shortly, and there’s absolutely no telling how the markets or lending institutions will react.

Get your financial aid taken care of sooner rather than later, even if it’s just filing your applications.

Scholarship Update

Congratulations to Cody Fink, University of Nebraska Kearney, for winning our Scholarship Points $1,000 May scholarship.

Congratulations to Jennifer Onativia, SUNY Binghamton, for winning our Scholarship Points and Student Platinum $2,500 scholarship.

See all of our past scholarship winners.

In June, we’re repeating the same drawings – $2,500 and $1,000. Every new member of Scholarship Points will also be eligible to win our $10,000 scholarship in July, to be drawn on July 31.

If you’re not a member of Scholarship Points, join today. It’s completely free.

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