While it’s not morally right to feel better because of another’s misfortune, this story may have students across the country feel just a bit better about the amount of money they will owe in student loans upon graduation.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Michelle Bisutti, a 41-year-old woman from Columbus, Ohio borrowed $250,000 to pay for medical school in 1999. The debt has since increased to $555,000.

Part of the spiraling effect is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates, according to the Wall Street Journal. While in school, her loans accumulated interest with variable rates ranging from 3 percent to 11 percent.

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There is a certain level of disconnect with reality in the citizenry of the United States. We pat ourselves on the back, proudly boasting that we are “the best country in the world.” And while that may be true to some extent – people have amazing opportunities and freedoms here – an inability to see that it might be possible that we aren’t always the best in everything we do may be holding us back. Nowhere is that more true than the United States’ lagging educational system.

According to a 2006 investigation by the ABC program 20/20, a Gallup Poll survey showed that 76 percent of Americans were completely or somewhat satisfied with their kids’ public school.

Now, here comes the disconnect:

In 2002, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a report on the state of education in 24 industrialized nations. The United States ranked 18th out of 24 nations. The report was based on results from three surveys that tested 14- and 15-year-old’s literacy and their abilities in essential mathematics and science.

“A child starting school in Canada, Finland, or South Korea has both a higher probability of reaching a given level of educational achievement and a lower probability of falling well below the average,” UNICEF said in a written statement.

Let that sink in for a moment. We’re in the bottom 25th percentile for education. Read the rest of this entry »

Another spring semester is about to start. We are half-way through the school year, which means we are half-way to summer break. It also means that it is almost time to start filling out those FAFSA forms for next year.

What is the FAFSA? The FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

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As a college student, I have three main financial concerns: earning money, spending money, and saving money for college. Thanks to Upromise, two of my concerns are now combined into a system that makes saving for college so much easier!

Upromise is a free service that both parents and students can use to “earn” money for college by spending money on things you do everyday.

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Applying for student loans can be very confusing and difficult. Do you need a subsidized loan or a Perkins loan? A Stafford or a private? Here’s a quick rundown of what the different types of student loans are.

Stafford Loans: These are federal loans. They come directly from the government through the Federal Family Loan Program. These require the FAFSA to be completed by the student.

Subsidized Loans: These are a type of Stafford loan and are designed for students who demonstrate financial need. While students are in school, the government pays the interest on these loans. Read the rest of this entry »

The Department of Education chose Sallie Mae, a leader in student loan lending, along with three other companies to service the outstanding federal student loans and future loans owned by the government totaling $550 billion. By servicing these loans, Sallie Mae would take on the administrative work, like mailing statements, receiving payments and managing delinquent accounts. The five-year contract, scheduled to begin in August 2009, awarded to Sallie Mae is only for the management of these loans, not loan origination.

Sallie Mae has long been synonymous with student loans, as it is the largest student lender in the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »

While the deadline may be approaching to let colleges know what your final decision is, this does not necessarily mean the end for financing college. While you need to accept anything you want from the college they offered you in your financial aid package, there are still other ways to obtain more money to help fund your college education.

Loans- A student loan is probably your smartest option when it comes to loans. For most of these, the payments are deferred until after you graduate or until you are out of school for a certain period of time. Read the rest of this entry »

While my final college decision didn’t have to be mailed and received by a college till May 1, I figured the smartest thing to do would be to make my decision fast. I put in the mail my intent to enroll form with my housing form and deposits for the University of Tulsa this last weekend and I can’t remember the last time I felt this good about a decision and so relieved.

The reason that I decided to make my decision earlier was to get my finances in order. After figuring out everything I had received financially from Tulsa and other various scholarships, such as a $3,000 scholarship through scouts, I then started finding student loans. Of course, this was not too difficult considering I went to Google and typed in “student loans” and got a huge number of sites offering student loans. After looking at a few options, I finally found a loan and finished my application last night for the loan. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a correlation no one can deny. As college tuition and fees continue to rise (up 50% in the past 10 years), so does credit card debt. As fewer families have the cash to support college students, more students are charging their tuition, books, fees and other living expenses just to get by.

According to Sallie Mae, the average undergrad has a credit card bill of $3,173, up a startling 134% from $2,169 in 2004, and the highest amount since the organization began tracking in 1998. It seems that tenure in school correlates to debt as well, with seniors owing twice as much as freshmen.

This new study from Sallie Mae uses March 2008 data; due to the state of the economy since then, they warn the actuals for 2009 could look worse. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Get a Student Loan

According to a report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, while median family income rose just 147 percent. You don’t have to be a math professor to see how that sort of trend puts amazing pressure on students and their families to find ways to pay for a college education.

If you haven’t saved enough money to pay for your education, all is not lost. Financial aid has more than doubled in the last decade. And while the recent credit crunch has made it even more difficult on those in need of financial assistance, you still have options. We’ll show you how to tap into public and private sources of aid.

Loans for higher education come in three major categories: student loans, private student loans, and parent loans. Let’s take a look at each option. Read the rest of this entry »