The cost of a college education is rising every year. This year the average cost of a private four-year school was $26,273, up 4.4% from last year, and the average cost of a public school was $7,020, up 6.5% from last year. For most families, paying for college is a struggle. If you feel like you do not have all the pieces of the financial aid puzzle, you are not alone.

For college students and their families December can an extremely stressful month. December is one of the two times per year when tuition bills are expected to be paid in full to colleges and universities across the country. You probably received your financial aid package for 2009-2010 almost an entire year ago. Everyone knows that financial circumstances can change drastically in one year especially in a recovering economy. Perhaps the money that you and your parents thought you would have for this coming semester suddenly needs to be allocated elsewhere.

Many students become frustrated when they learn a cosigner is required when completing an application for a private student loan.

Are your Mom and Dad not willing to file the FAFSA with you because they don’t want people knowing their earnings? Are they instead willing to co-sign on a private student loan? If this is the case the logic behind their actions is illogical.img src=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/staffordloan/~4/TtNHVl_Y6eA” height=”1″ width=”1″/

FAP924: Student loan debt repayment, outlet malls, free stuff
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Student Financial Aid News
Students borrowing more than ever.
Have you read about income based repayment?
Private student loan swap proposal.
Scholarship Update
NASA ASEE scholarship. The Aeronautics Scholarship Program (ASP) offers our nation’s research leaders of tomorrow exceptional funding: Undergraduate Students * $15,000 awarded for each school year, to be used for educational related expenses * $10,000 Summer internship at a NASA Research Center * 2 years of support Graduate Students * $35,000 stipend * $11,000 awarded each year, to …

FAP908: Comparing student loans, Selective Service, Free stuff, Bob Gentry
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Weekly Financial Aid Roundup
A new article looking at the differences in interest rates for various graduate student loans over at GradLoans.com.
Scholarship Update
National Geographic’s Galapagos Exploration award, plus ScholarshipPoints.com drawings in just 6 days.
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Daily Aid 116: Private student loans vs. federal student loans, your thoughts
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
“The percentage of students taking out private loans has increased by nine percentage points over the past five years, from 5 percent to 14 percent, according to a new analysis of Education Department data that was released last week,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “The biggest jump in borrowing occurred at for-profit institutions, where the share of students with private loans grew from 14 percent to 43 percent in the years from 2003-4 …

Daily Aid 114: Sallie Mae Federal Student Loan Proposal
Student Financial Aid News
From InsideHigherEd:
Sallie Mae (ticker: SLM), which as the country’s largest student loan provider has a lot to lose from the Obama administration’s proposal to eliminate the Family Federal Education Loan Program, is floating an alternative that would save the program but cut its costs significantly. In a letter to sent to its college customers, the lender outlined a plan that would entail permanently extending the emergency programs that Congress put in place in 2007 to ensure the continued availability …

Daily Aid 112: Comparing private student loans and student credit cards
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
College students are using credit cards more than ever before, according to a survey of private-student-loan applicants released today by Sallie Mae, the giant student-loan company. Students with credit cards have an average of 4.6 of them, the report says, and half have four or more cards. The median credit-card debt is $1,645.
Ninety-two percent of respondents with credit cards said they had used them to pay for some kind of college expense. Thirty percent said …

Daily Aid 100: The consequences of eliminating the guaranteed student loan program
Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the Obama administration’s 2010 budget contained mostly distressing news for the White House, including the headline-dominating assessment that the plan would send the federal deficit sky high.
But buried within the budget office’s review was one nugget sure to elate the Education Department and break the hearts of lobbyists for student loan companies: the determination that the administration’s plan to eliminate the Family Federal Education Loan Program and …