I’ll be speaking on Thursday at the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators annual conference on the topic of financial literacy, but wanted your take: why do financial literacy efforts fail?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Scholarship Points bonus code: FINLITFAIL

FAP928: What’s ahead for your financial aid future
Download the MP3 file here.
Expert Interview
In this 25 minute interview with Maria Simos, CEO of e-Forecasting.com, and Dr. Evangelos Simos, Professor of Economics at the Whittemore School of Business at UNH, we talk about the current financial conditions impacting students and families, what industries are likely to be the best opportunities for jobs for new graduates, and what lies ahead in the next few years for your financial future.
There’s a ton of great information in this show – enjoy!

Subscribe to RSS headline updates …

Daily Aid 110: Financial Aid Cause and Effect
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
Increased federal student aid, especially to middle-class families, is contributing to the rising cost of higher education, a report by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity says.
The report concludes that federally backed loans should be offered to only low-income families, not expanded to help more middle-class families, and that “the expanded tuition tax credits in the 2009 stimulus bill are probably a step backward.”
Commentary
Economics 101 – the more a customer has to spend, the higher you can …

The Coming Financial Aid Crisis, Part 2 in a Series
In the first part of this discussion on the coming financial aid crisis, we talked about Pell Grant shortfalls and increased demand due to enrollments. Let’s dig into some heavier economic data to see what may lie ahead.
Here’s a chart of underutilized labor from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Underutilized labor includes the unemployed, discouraged workers (people who are jobless and have stopped looking/stopped filing for unemployment insurance), and underutilized workers (part time employees who want a full time job but …

I’d like to call your attention to two charts from the October Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
First, this chart. Click on the chart for a larger version.

The official October 2008 unemployment rate is 6.5%. However, if you count in discouraged workers (people who have given up trying to find a job), marginally attached workers (day labor without steady employment), and part timers who were forced into part time from full time, the rate is almost double, 11.8%.
If the economy and the employment situation feels worse than the official rate says …

I am not a financial planner
Just wanted to be clear to everyone who reads the blog and listens to the podcast about this very important topic. I am not:
- a CPA, CFA, or other accredited financial advisor
- a certified financial planner
- a certified anything when it comes to investing
- an economist
I’ve blogged and talked a lot about the economy and its impact on financial aid and paying for college, to be sure, because things like private student loan availability are important to me. That said, I hold no certifications or …

Daily Aid 14: Washington Mutual fails, seized by OTS and FDIC, bought by JP Morgan
Special Announcement Edition
You’ll probably just wake up to this blog post, since it’s very early morning, 12:30 AM.
Washington Mutual (ticker: WM) has failed due to a massive run on the bank, losing $16.7 billion in deposits in just 9 days.
As of 10 PM September 26, Office of Thrift Supervision seized Washington Mutual and placed it into receivership with the FDIC, making it the largest bank failure in history.
JP Morgan (ticker: JPM) then purchased the assets of …

I had the opportunity to discuss student loans and student lending, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and explain the credit crisis on Talk Radio News, going into detail about credit default swaps, subprime, Alt-A, and leverage. Thanks to Dan Patterson, TRN and ABC correspondent, for the interview.
Click here to download the MP3 file
Direct file download: MP3 file

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: Powered by FeedBurner

Did you enjoy this? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don’t have to …

Daily Aid 8: Free textbooks, Student Loan ECASLA Continuance
Student Financial Aid News
Chronicle:
Citing continued turmoil in the U.S. financial markets, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to extend by one year a federal rescue plan for student-loan companies. The 368-to-4 vote came only hours after the investment-banking firm Lehman Brothers (ticker: LEH) announced that it had filed for bankruptcy. Supporters of the extension, including lenders and financial-aid officers, said the legislation would ensure that student loans remained widely available in the 2009-10 academic year.
If approved by the Senate and signed …

What Financial Aid Administrators Need to Know About the Financial Crisis
In a departure from my regular writing for students, parents, and families, this post is specifically for financial aid administrators and professionals, about what you need to know about the market issues and more important, ways you might be able to explain all of this to students and families who are angry, confused, and upset.
Why This Is Happening
At the heart of all of this is the fact that over the past 5 years or so, financial institutions of all kinds …