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Incoming student seeks resources to go from financial aid newbie to guru in one month. See what she finds...

With classes around the corner, this is one of the most vital times of year to get your finances in order...

It's no secret that student loans are more difficult to obtain for graduate students in the past few years due to the credit crunch and slow economic recovery.

The key component of being approved for a low-interest private student loan is the credit score and history of you and/or your co-signer. Depending on what your score looks like to a lender, you could see a variance of anywhere from 1 to 10% on the interest rate of your approved student loan. Aside from checking [...]

More and more college students are signing up for some facet of distance learning. On line education has truly come of age, offering quality, value and the ability to self-schedule classes. However, getting into the groove of taking courses on line can be frustrating, and it is important to developing strategies so you [...]

Once again, the Washington Monthly is under fire from some members of the education community for recently ranking what it calls ?America?s Best Community Colleges.?  Publications like U.S. News & World Report and http://www.usnews.com/education and Forbes that publish their annual rankings of the nation?s colleges and universities are widely considered to be helpful resources. So [...]

Unruly jailers may have to watch out for Los Angeles? newest disciplinary member. Half-robot, half satellite dish, the Assault Intervention Device?which the mechanism is known as?hails from a less extreme model of military weaponry. Its purpose? To be used as an alternative way of keeping inmates in line without resorting to physical violence. According to the [...]

Despite the fact that economists have declared the recession to be over, the scars it has left behind are still quite clear. This is particularly true when it comes to the unemployment rate, which is expected to remain around the 10% mark or higher well into next year. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has [...]

As technology and the way we use it continues to evolve, so do the expectations for those who are searching for a job. Gone are the days when all you had to do was write a resume and send it in to those job listings that seemed to be a good match. Rather, those who [...]

Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan announced a national coalition to enroll five million children in Medicaid and CHIP within five years.

Alabama, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Tennessee are among the states that will receive funding to support education jobs.

Read Secretary Duncan's remarks to state leaders about Race to the Top Assessment winners and the next generation of assessments.

Secretary Duncan and other Obama administration officials announced a $1.8 billion agreement to help renovate and rebuild schools in New Orleans.

Secretary Duncan is taking a bus tour to visit schools, honor and listen to teachers, meet with parents and students, and highlight success. See video, photos, and stories in the blog.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), awards Hispanic college scholarships each year to Latino students for Graduate, Bachelor’s or Associate degree level study. CHCI scholarships are one-time awards. Recipients enrolled in an Associate degree programs receive $1,500 and a laptop computer. Those enrolled in Bachelor’s degree programs receive $2,500 and a laptop computer. Graduate student recipients are awarded $5,000. There is no minimum grade point average requirement, and the program is open to Hispanic students regardless of major program of study. Scholarship awards are based on applicants’ track records in leadership and community service paired with their dedication to continuing to contribute to the Latino community in the future. Additionally, CHCI has complied directories of regional and national Hispanic scholarships, fellowships, and internships that can be downloaded at chci.org.


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It's no secret that student loans are more difficult to obtain for graduate students in the past few years due to the credit crunch and slow economic recovery.

For those who may not have noticed, or are new to the game of college admissions (which probably accounts for 99.9% of those reading this and other college admission blogs), the Common App has changed for the next class of applicants.Some of the chang...

Happy September! September means it is officially back-to-school time. New clothes, books, pens, teachers and classes. Here are some back-to-school facts for the 2010-2011 school year: 76 million - The number of U.S. residents enrolled in schools, from nursery schools to colleges. 56 million - The number of students projected to be enrolled in the nation's elementary and high schools grades K-12 this fall. That number exceeds the total in 1969 (51.6 million) when the last of the "baby boom" children expanded school enrollments. 1.1 million - Number of students who are home-schooled, or 2 percent of all school-age students ages 5 to 17. 9.1 million - The projected number of students enrolled in the nation?s colleges and universities this fall. This is up from 12.4 million a quarter-century ago. ...As the 2010-2011 school year begins, remember that a new year is a clean slate and a perfect time to focus on the goals you want to achieve this year, and beyond. Education is a crucial investment for the future, and with the population growing and tuition costs rising, it is important to know that there are many resources and people willing to help.

A new tool lets you watch the country's collected student debt pile up in real time.Sponsored by FinAid.org, the Student Loan Debt Clock tallies an estimate of total private and federal outstanding student debt. According to FinAid, now is peak time fo...

Ask Admissions Girl: I am an upcoming junior, is there anything I can do to alleviate the senior burden? It?s never too early to start planning! If you are a junior, sophomore or even a freshman there are ways to prepare before senior year. Making college decisions can be stressful and as written in my last post there is a lot to do senior year, so it is best to be organized. Alleviate or ease the ?burden? senior year by starting early, and continually researching and applying yourself.

If you are a rising high school senior one of the first things on your mind is probably college. From this point you have about twelve months until you enroll as a college freshman. If you feel nervous, disorganized or unsure about what needs to be done, here are all of the things you need to do this year to get ready.

Remember that even though you may not like each other everyday.....it doesn`t mean that you don`t love each other everyday!

Did you know that because nearly all private student loans have variable APRs, your interest rate could have changed several times in the past 2 years?

If you’ve heard the word about the reform currently in progress across the country, you probably are aware of the end of the FFEL program and exclusive federal consolidation returning to the Department of Education. If not, read this page on upcoming changes to get acclimated. One question we get a lot is, “If FFEL is [...]

Consolidation has two main benefits that can be of enormous financial help to you both in the present and the future: the improvement of your credit rating and lower net monthly payments.

There are a great many benefits to consolidating your student loans, such as the convenience of making one or two monthly payments as opposed to six or seven, the lower monthly payment. But there are some cases where you have to be careful.

Depending on the amount (and type) of loans you took out for school and the repayment plan you selected, the monthly payments may still be out of your reach by the end of your grace period.

Many parents, who take out the Parent PLUS Loan, believe they could always transfer the loan to the child, once he or she has graduated and secured a reasonable income

If you are a parent who has taken out a PLUS loan to cover some of your child?s education, you might be wondering what methods of repayment are available to you. While many parents opt for standard repayment, there are other options as well.

If your child received their financial aid award letter and there weren’t enough digits on the page to cover tuition, you are definitely not alone. The cost of college continues to steadily grow every year, but financial aid has not kept the same pace. As a result, the gap between aid and cost continues to [...]

Getting a loan rejection letter can be very disheartening and exhausting after the work you put into helping your child(ren) pay for their education. However, there are still ways to gain more financial aid through what is called an "appeal" process.

One question we get a lot regarding Parent PLUS loans are whether or not they can be transferred to a child. The answer, sadly, is no.