Jeff Mictabor

Taming Student Loan Debt With Prepayments

Today, two-thirds of college students leave school with at least some debt from college loans. The average debt is approaching $25,000, a figure that includes not just the original amounts borrowed but, for most students, accumulated interest as well. ... Read >

Paying for College: Evaluating Your Financial Aid Package

Prospective college students who have filled out their applications for federal student aid (the application known as the FAFSA) should now be receiving information about their financial aid packages for the upcoming school year. College financial aid ... Read >

Community Colleges and the Dangers of Student Loan Debt

For high school students who are on the hunt for ways to reduce the cost of a college education, your local community college may look like a way to keep your expenses down and avoid the crush of debt from school loans. In fact, many financial advisers... Read >

Student Loan Debt Collections Come Up Short

The U.S. Department of Education is reporting that its current student loan debt collection contract produced more revenue in the first 15 months of operation than the previous debt collection contract did for the same period of time, but debt collection ... Read >

New Report Goes Beyond Defaults, Examining Student Loan Delinquencies

A new report issued by the Institute for Higher Education Policy examines the issue of delinquency -- late payments -- as a factor in student loan defaults. Researchers at IHEP analyzed a broad range of data from borrowers whose federal student loans (... Read >

In Calif., Using Student Loan Defaults to Limit College Grants

The state of California is taking a page from the U.S. Department of Education’s playbook. In an effort to trim a nearly $27 billion budget deficit, lawmakers are exploring the possibility of limiting payouts from the state’s Cal Grant college student fin... Read >

Tenn. Community College May Cut Federal Student Loans

Nashville State Community College is weighing the decision to eliminate federal student loans from its financial aid programs. The school is assessing the number of its students who have defaulted on their federal student loans (http://www.nextstudent.... Read >

6 Keys to Minimizing Student Loan Debt

If you’re a senior in high school who’s planning for college but you haven’t yet picked your school, you’re in the sweet spot. The decisions you make in the coming months will define your life in more ways than you can imagine. Your choice of college a... Read >

Paying for College: Using Employment Prospects to Drive Decisions

For college students who are approaching graduation, the employment picture may be looking slightly better than it has in the past couple of years, as the country slowly recovers from the Great Recession. This recovery doesn’t mean, however, that job pros... Read >

N.C. Community Colleges Lobby Against Federal Student Loans

The presidents of 38 North Carolina community colleges have come together to oppose a new state law that requires them to offer federal student loans to their student bodies beginning July 1, 2011. As written, the law would make community college parti... Read >

Are Student Loans Still a Good Bet?

In the mid- and late-1960s, there was no doubt among U.S. public policy makers that the federal government should be encouraging more citizens to attend and graduate from college. Bolstered by the success of the highly popular GI Bill (http://www.gibil... Read >

Minn. Survey Shows Impact of Recession on Student Loan Debt

The Minnesota State University Student Association has released the results of a survey it issued in September 2010 to help assess the impact of student loan debt on its members. Because the survey’s number of responses is small -- just 46 responses to da... Read >

Consumer Law Report Blasts For-Profit Colleges for Private-Label Student Loans

A new report issued in January by the National Consumer Law Center accuses for-profit colleges of saddling their students with unregulated private-label student loans that force these students into high interest rates, excessive debt, and predatory lendin... Read >

Paying for College: Student Loans or Credit Cards?

Research conducted by student loan company Sallie Mae shows that in 2010, about 5 percent of college students paid an average of more than $2,000 in tuition and other educational expenses using a credit card to avoid taking out student loans. The same stu... Read >

Paying for College Without Using Student Loans

Paying for college can be tricky, especially when the cost of a college education is far outstripping the rate of inflation. About two-thirds of today’s college students take out student loans (http://www.nextstudent.com/student-loans/) of some sort, a... Read >